This article was originally published by the Center for American Progress.
Unions are at the forefront of how young workers think about their careers and their ability to support themselves with decent jobs. For the past several years, support for unions has reached an all-time high among American workers. More workers are voting in union elections, and nearly half a million workers went on strike in 2023 to push for better wages, including from automakers, studios, hospitals, and other employers. Throughout this time, young workers—members of Gen Z and younger millennials—have shown the highest support for unions out of every generation, consistently rating union approval higher than any other age group and leading in major organizing campaigns.
New data from Gallup shows that more than three-quarters of young Americans approve of unions. Seventy-seven percent of respondents age 34 and lower say they approve of labor unions—higher than any other age group—compared to 70 percent of respondents age 35 through 54 answering positively, and 66 percent of respondents over the age of 55 responding positively. These recent polling results reinforce findings from the Center from American Progress that shows Gen Z and Millennials are not only the most pro-union generations alive today, but even more pro-union than older Americans were at their age. Additionally, these pro-union attitudes among Gen Z and Millennial cross partisan divides.
Young workers today feel as though they’ve been left behind by high housing costs, low wage growth, and lower job quality, especially for workers without college degrees. Unions enable workers to advocate collectively for better wages and working conditions, giving young workers a strategy to support themselves. Young workers are finding that union membership helps them achieve better financial stability, with workers under the age of 34 earning 11.3 percent more from union membership. The clear benefits from union membership, along with a wave of well-publicized organizing campaigns at some of the country’s largest companies, are likely at the center of why America’s youngest generations are its most pro-union today.
The union generation
Polling data collected by Gallup in August 2024 show that young respondents have a higher union approval rating than older generations. As shown in Figure 1, 77 percent of respondents ages 18 to 34, which includes all members of Gen Z over the age of 18 and some Millennials, approve of labor unions. A large majority of respondents among all age groups support unions, with 70 percent of respondents ages 35 to 54 and 66 percent of respondents over 55 responding positively, but the youngest age group maintains the highest support.
The high support for unions nationwide—with greatest support among younger workers—is consistent with previous Center for American Progress research. As shown in Figure 2, support for unions has increased among every age group since 2012, but Millennials have consistently shown higher support for unions compared to Gen X or Baby Boomers since they first entered the labor force in 2000, and Gen Z has had even higher support for unions than Millennials since they began working in 2016.
Remarkably, young workers’ support for unions is high even across partisan lines, and there is less of a gap in union support between self-identified Republicans and Democrats from younger generations. Figure 3 breaks down union support by respondents’ partisan identity, and though respondents who identify as Democrats are more pro-union in every generation, support among people who identify as Republicans is higher for Gen Z and Millennials than Gen X and Baby Boomers. In fact, among Gen Z and Millennials who identify as Republicans, average approval is over 50 on a scale from 0 to 100, meaning these respondents have an overall positive approval of unions compared to members of older generations who identify as Republicans.
Union membership increases wages for workers—and as young workers express anxiety about their ability to support themselves, many young organizers started forming unions as a way to come together to negotiate for better wages. An analysis from the Center for Economic and Policy Research found that, from 2016 to 2021, workers under the age of 34 earned 11.3 percent more due to union membership, and Black and Hispanic workers saw even greater gains of 13.6 percent and 19.6 percent, respectively. (see Figure 4) Union wages and benefits not only help individual workers better support themselves—and save more and pay down debt over their lifetimes—but also narrow racial and gender pay gaps by ensuring all workers are held to the same pay standard.
One of the highest-profile organizing campaigns from the last few years has focused on young workers—specifically, at Starbucks, where 440 stores across 44 states have voted to form a union since a Buffalo, New York, location became the first to vote to unionize in 2021. Like millions of young workers, organizers at Starbucks—whose nationwide organizing campaign has been led by many Gen Z and Millennial workers—feel like they’re starting from behind compared to older generations and see unions as a key way to get ahead. A 17-year-old organizer in upstate New York put the support among young people for unions in generational terms:
"I feel like the baby boomers started at the start line, and now we’re farther and farther behind. Gen X are a mile behind, millennials are two miles, and my generation is now like five miles behind. We’re just sick of them saying we have equal opportunities; we have to make up those five miles."
Some organizers look to the success older generations had in building unions to reach the middle class as inspiration for starting their own. Citing his own experiences with union membership enabling his father to go to school, one 20-year-old Starbucks organizer stated:
"Workers are finally realizing that they have this right to organize and that they can demand more from their employers. That’s what we’re doing at Starbucks. We don’t want to be part of the Great Resignation because we like our jobs and we want to keep working at Starbucks. But we want to make Starbucks a better place to work for all of us."
Young workers are also leading union efforts in new industries: In 2022, for example, the largest union elections were nearly all graduate student unions. Leading labor unions have made efforts to support these campaigns and nurture a culture of organizing among young workers by training and uplifting the work of young organizers.
What can policymakers do to support young workers?
Federal labor law fails to adequately protect the right to organize. Many of the tactics that corporations use to try to dissuade workers from unionizing—such as captive audience meetings, where workers are forced to listen to their employers argue why they shouldn’t unionize—are legal under current federal law. Even though more extreme union-busting strategies such as firing organizers are illegal, some businesses simply break the law because there are no meaningful penalties for violating federal labor law and because the main agency tasked with enforcing the law, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), has been underfunded for years. One study found that corporations are charged with breaking the law in 41.5 percent of union election campaigns. Even when workers successfully form a union, companies can stall the negotiation process to wear down organizers’ momentum and avoid awarding a first contract: New unions commonly struggle to sign a first contract within a year, and one study estimated the mean time to reach a first contract from 2020 to 2022 was more than 500 days.
However, Congress has had a reform bill available for years: the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. This bill, which passed the House of Representatives in 2021, would close the loopholes in current law that union-busting companies exploit to try to prevent unions from forming; establish penalties for violating the law; and facilitate negotiations for reaching a first contract. At the state level, policymakers have taken steps on their own to strengthen the right to organize: 10 states have passed laws banning captive audience meetings, for example. Still, most of the laws and regulations that dictate the playing field for union organizing are at the federal level. Thus, the PRO Act remains the gold-standard reform for leveling the playing field between workers and corporations.
Conclusion
Workers today are more pro-union than they had been for decades, and young workers are the most pro-union of all, with support that crosses ideological lines. Though all workers benefit from collectively bargaining for better wages and working conditions, young workers are particularly motivated to support unions and even lead new organizing campaigns. However, labor law stacks the deck in favor of corporations that try to stop unions from forming and negotiating good contracts. Policymakers who want to foster this enthusiasm for organizing among young workers must act to protect the right to join a union.
Cover photo credit: Los Angeles Times
