Welcome to the Worker Organizing Resource and Knowledge Center – the federal government's first online resource center with information about labor unions and their importance to workers and communities. Consistently, research shows that workers want unions. In fact, a huge gap exists between the percentage of workers who want a union and those who currently have one.
Today, many workers – particularly young workers – know little about their labor rights and don't know how to organize. In response, to meet popular demand, we created the WORK Center to provide information about unions, organizing and collective bargaining, all of which are important tools for workers that help support the Department of Labor's mission to protect workers.
Worker and public support for unions is higher now than it's been in decades, especially among young workers. Recent research suggests 52 percent of workers want a union but that just 12 percent of workers are currently represented by one. Among Black and Hispanic workers, women workers, and young workers, interest in union representation is particularly high.
The union representation gap is a racial and gender equity issue. Research shows that women workers and workers of color, as well as young workers, have even higher levels of support for having a union on the job.
Workers want a collective voice on their compensation, benefits, training opportunities and other issues.
While more than half of non-union workers say they want a union, only about ten percent of these workers say they know how to form one.
Unions help the Department of Labor fulfill its mission to protect the health, safety, wages and retirement security of working Americans. Workers represented by unions feel safer voicing concerns about workplace safety and health, wage theft and other violations of worker protections. Unions help enforce workers' legal rights. Supporting workers as they try try to form unions helps the department's ability to carry out its mission.
U.S. Department of Labor links:
- Labor unions promote the welfare of workers in many ways. Here are four Ways Unions Complement the Department of Labor's Mission.
- In 2021, President Biden signed an executive order establishing the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment. Interested in learning more about the Department of Labor's role in the task force? Here are some key messages on the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment.
External links:
- The National Labor Relations Board released data on union representation petitions filed at the NLRB and unfair labor practice charges in 2022, including the fact that NLRB petitions for union representation elections are up 58% from last year.
- Unions empower workers, improve workplace health and safety standards, and help with enforcing labor rights.
- Workers across industries are organizing new unions. Read more from the Center for Equitable Growth about what workers are seeking through organizing.
- Support for unions is strong across all generations, particularly among Gen Z. Learn more from Center for American Progress report: The Closing Gender, Education, and Ideological Divides Behind Gen Z's Union Movement.
Any links to non-federal websites on this page provide additional information that is consistent with the intended purpose of this federal site, but linking to such sites does not constitute an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Labor of the information or organization providing such information. For more information, please visit https://www.dol.gov/general/disclaim.
