How the UAW strike benefits all workers (with Kate Bahn)
12/19/23 • 32 min
Business reporting on labor unions tends to focus on speculation about how much striking workers might hurt the economy. But the reality is that successful strikes have a long-term positive impact on economic growth because they raise wages for all workers. Economist and researcher Kate Bahn, Director of Research from WorkRise argues that strikes, especially historic strikes such as the recent UAW strike, benefit both unionized and non-union workers, and have much broader ripple effects across the whole economy because they increase worker power and competition for workers across various sectors and industries.
Kate Bahn is an economist and researcher, currently serving as the Director of Research for WorkRise, a research-to-action network hosted by the Urban Institute. Bahn's expertise lies in labor markets, gender economics, and income inequality. She has conducted extensive research on topics such as the gender wage gap, paid family leave, and the impact of automation on employment. Bahn's work combines rigorous analysis with a commitment to addressing the needs and challenges faced by marginalized communities.
Twitter: @LipstickEcon
How the UAW strike might benefit all workers: https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/15/opinions/union-member-negotiations-uaw-pay-bahn/index.html
Labor unions are good for workers, and here’s why they also make good business sense: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/labor-unions-are-good-for-workers-and-heres-why-they-also-make-good-business-sense-a39f3697
Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com
Twitter: @PitchforkEcon
Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics
Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer
Business reporting on labor unions tends to focus on speculation about how much striking workers might hurt the economy. But the reality is that successful strikes have a long-term positive impact on economic growth because they raise wages for all workers. Economist and researcher Kate Bahn, Director of Research from WorkRise argues that strikes, especially historic strikes such as the recent UAW strike, benefit both unionized and non-union workers, and have much broader ripple effects across the whole economy because they increase worker power and competition for workers across various sectors and industries.
Kate Bahn is an economist and researcher, currently serving as the Director of Research for WorkRise, a research-to-action network hosted by the Urban Institute. Bahn's expertise lies in labor markets, gender economics, and income inequality. She has conducted extensive research on topics such as the gender wage gap, paid family leave, and the impact of automation on employment. Bahn's work combines rigorous analysis with a commitment to addressing the needs and challenges faced by marginalized communities.
Twitter: @LipstickEcon
How the UAW strike might benefit all workers: https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/15/opinions/union-member-negotiations-uaw-pay-bahn/index.html
Labor unions are good for workers, and here’s why they also make good business sense: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/labor-unions-are-good-for-workers-and-heres-why-they-also-make-good-business-sense-a39f3697
Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com
Twitter: @PitchforkEcon
Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics
Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer
Previous Episode
How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism (with Clara Mattei)
We already know that many mainstream economists advocate against the economic interests of the majority of working Americans and for the benefit of a tiny handful of super-rich people and corporations. But Clara Mattei argues that economists are actually guilty of something even more insidious: By promoting austerity measures that destabilize working people and consolidate wealth and power at the very top of the income scale, economists have created the perfect conditions for fascism to take root around the world. Is it too late to rebuild our democratic institutions through a new economic understanding?
Clara Mattei is a distinguished academic in the field of economics and an Associate Professor of Economics at The New School for Social Research in New York City. Her research examines the history of capitalism, exploring the critical relationship between economic ideas and technocratic policymaking. She’s the author of the book, The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism.
Twitter: @claraemattei
The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo181707138.html
Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com
Twitter: @PitchforkEcon
Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics
Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer
Next Episode
Middle-Out Wins
2023 was a big year for middle-out policy and research, so we are recapping some of the biggest middle-out moments that are improving people's lives and helping us close the book on America’s neoliberal era. Today, Civic Ventures writer Paul Constant joins Goldy to help recap the biggest middle-out successes of 2023 that have benefited workers, and are changing the way people think about economic cause and effect. This episode shines a light on policies, movements, labor actions/strikes, groundbreaking reports, and research that have made a real difference in people's lives and is changing the way economists and policymakers think about and manage economic policy.
Voicemail: 731-388-9334
Email: [email protected]
Bidenomics is Real Economics https://time.com/6343967/bidenomics-is-real-economics
The Transformation at the Heart of Biden’s Middle-Out Economic Agenda https://prospect.org/economy/2023-02-09-biden-middle-out-agenda
Minimum Wage Effects and Monopsony Explanations https://justinwiltshire.com/minimum-wage-effects-and-monopsony-explanations
Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com
Twitter: @PitchforkEcon
Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics
Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer
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