According to the Economic Policy Institute, median CEO pay at S&P 500 companies rose to 196 times the average worker’s pay in 2022, up from 59-to-1 in 1989. She felt it most at the grocery store—pasta creeping up a quarter, sneakers for her daughter five dollars more than last spring. On her phone, she saw the clean U-shaped chart: inequality plunged in the ’40s, then climbed again since 1980—especially at the very top.
Union data told a similar story. In 1983, one in five U.S. workers belonged to a union; today it’s one in ten. Yet 2023 brought a surge: nearly 2,600 petitions for union elections, the most in a decade. Workers won about 61 percent of those elections, according to the National Labor Relations Board, but in many cases, companies fought certification through lengthy appeals.
At the picnic table, a coworker watched a rally clip. “We all had to have second, third jobs, side gigs to make ends meet.” The warehouse offered benefits and a clock that never blinked. The rate ratcheted anyway.
Every quarter raised on pasta, every dollar cut from hours, was a lesson in arithmetic no classroom taught.
“Volcano or solar system?” Manny from Inbounds asked, meaning her kid’s science project.
“Volcano,” she said.
“Baking soda.”
He grinned. “Put it on the porch. Let the neighborhood learn fiscal policy.”
The belts clicked over a rough patch, a hiccup in the rhythm. It reminded her of her grandmother describing the stamping presses at GM—how the floor trembled and your teeth ached, but the union meetings steadied your hands. Alma from Returns leaned in by the water cooler. “You know UPS? My cousin’s shop went union. Took a year, but the raise landed. Boss stopped messing with shifts.”
She wasn’t exaggerating. The Teamsters’ 2023 contract with UPS raised part-time starting pay from $15.50 to $21 an hour, secured air-conditioning in delivery trucks, and cut mandatory overtime.
“They get in here, it’s dues, politics, and less hours,” Chris said at Receiving. “My cousin’s plant went union—management outsourced half the shifts. My brother’s mortgage fell apart when his hours got cut.” On the corkboard, someone had penciled a warning—If they ask to ‘chat,’ bring a friend.
Steven Greenhouse, longtime labor reporter at the New York Times, put it plainer: “When a company illegally fires a worker for supporting a union, there are no fines. Reinstatement years later doesn’t pay this month’s rent.”
Asked about such criticisms, an Amazon spokesperson repeated the company’s long-held position: “We don’t believe unions are the best answer for our employees. Our focus remains on providing competitive pay, health care, and a safe workplace.”