Can Unions Improve Conditions for Disabled Workers?
A new analysis finds that unionized workers with disabilities tend to make more money and get better benefits.
by Yaseen al-Sheikh, More Perfect Union
Workers with disabilities earn higher wages and are more likely to acquire health insurance and retirement benefits when they’re unionized, according to a new paper published this week by the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
The study points to the success that union membership has had in boosting the quality of life for workers with disabilities, in a nation where people with disabilities make $.66 for every dollar an able-bodied worker makes and two-thirds of all federal workplace discrimination charges filed during the pandemic were related to disabilities.
“It is clear that workers with disabilities gain substantial economic advantages when they belong to a union,” Hayley Brown, Research Associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said in a statement. “These findings highlight the vital role unions play in advocating for equitable compensation for disabled workers, while also pointing to ongoing challenges that need to be addressed to achieve full economic parity.”
Those with disabilities from the ages of 25 to 54 who are part of a union see increases in their hourly wages of up to 18 percent, compared to those of workers who aren’t represented by a union, the analysis said. The benefits also largely persist across various subsections of disability, with people who have personal care disabilities and hearing disabilities experiencing some of the largest wage gaps between non-union and union workers.
Disabled union workers are also far more likely to have access to key benefits. Nearly 70 percent of unionized disabled workers have employer-sponsored health insurance and 47 percent have retirement benefits. Meanwhile, less than half of nonunion workers with disabilities have health care coverage through work, and fewer than a third have retirement benefits.
Workers with disabilities often require accommodations—which they’re entitled to under US law—from their employers to conduct the work that they are being tasked to complete. The Americans with Disabilities Act also offers legal protection to workers whose conditions limit their capabilities in a workplace, or who otherwise have a past history of such impairments.
Despite these protections, however, the reality for workers with disabilities is often dire. If a disabled worker can even find a relatively stable job to begin with, challenges can quickly mount related to receiving fair treatment, equal pay, or basic accommodations to do their work. A recent survey of disabled workers found that a quarter of all respondents said they experienced discrimination just during the interview process.
People with disabilities are twice as likely to be without a job, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics than those without disabilities. When they do find work, it’s often part-time or self-employed work because of arbitrary limits on the amount of money they can make before their Social Security or retirement benefits are cut. And beyond that, many workplaces even pay subminimum wages to disabled workers because federal law does not explicitly ban such practices.
Despite assertions by right-wing think tanks such as the Freedom Foundation — which gets its funding from billionaires like Charles Koch and the Bradley brothers — that unions are scamming both able-bodied and disabled workers out of their hard-earned money, the data shows that union membership is beneficial. For disabled workers, membership in a union can even explicitly provide protections for them in the workplace which might otherwise not be present.
But there are efforts underway to strengthen protections for disabled workers as well. At least 16 states have now banned the use of subminimum wages for disabled workers, with Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia all doing so in the last two years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Other states such as Minnesota and New York have seen legislation proposed to eliminate the subminimum wage. The Department of Labor is reportedly considering a revision of the subminimum wage rules, and the department has said it will issue a new rule by the end of September.
As governments consider new policies for improving working conditions for disabled people, the analysis says, policymakers and advocates “should consider strengthening union support and representation as a strategy to address the persistent disparities faced by disabled workers in the labor market.”