Collective Bargaining Without the Unionization Battles

Optimist Economy

Kathryn Anne Edwards and Robin Rauzi

Public Policy, Economics, Government, Economy

4.9 • 829 Ratings

🗓️ 15 July 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Labor unions’ public approval has been increasing since 2009, and is now at levels not seen since the 1960s. And yet rates of union membership have been falling. Today just 10% of U.S. workers are represented by a union, and below 6% in the private sector. What if there were a less adversarial way to get the worker-protection aspects of unions without the brutal shop-by-shop campaigns? Enter “sectoral bargaining,” where boards with worker, employer, and government representatives hash out wages and working conditions for occupational groups. Think all fast food workers, janitorial staff, or health care providers.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Ever since I found out we could curse on the show, every episode has had a little E next to it.
0:04.4	And I'm like, E for economy, right?
0:06.6	Am I right?
0:07.6	Or is it because I curse like a sailor and always have?
0:14.4	Hello and welcome to Optimist Economy.
0:18.3	I'm Catherine.
0:19.2	I'm Robin.
0:20.1	On this show, we believe the
0:21.1	U.S. economy can be better, and we talk about how to get there one problem and solution at a time.
0:34.3	We'd like to start our show with quick announcements. First, for the guy who said he wishes we would get to the point sooner, if you upgrade your
0:41.3	podcast app to something that uses chapters, we have chapters, and you can actually just
0:45.5	forward to the part where we actually start talking about economics and not all this other
0:49.2	chit-chatty fun stuff.
0:50.7	And honestly, I respect that comment, and I completely see you. Not offended. Not offended. Also, as always, we appreciate your
1:00.1	contributions. We accept those on a couple of platforms, first as paid subscribers to our substack, and also through
1:08.1	a service called Buy Me a Coffee. If you go to Optimisteconomy.com, we will have links that will take you directly to either
1:15.2	of those options for giving us money and keeping this show going.
1:20.0	Thank you so much.
1:22.0	Oh, I have one more announcement, apparently.
1:25.4	That her Catherine's just never going to talk,
1:29.8	which is hard to believe.
1:30.4	Come on.
	...

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