How and why trade unions help the 'levelling up' of life chances for workers & their children, a short(ish) thread....

#SocialMobility #joinaunion @The_TUC (1/10) https://twitter.com/dan_tomlinson_/status/1265574386305773571

"the presence & strength of labor unions... are likely to play more important roles [than school quality] in facilitating a poor child’s ability to rise up the economic ladder when they reach adulthood"
( @rmc031 citing @rothstein_jesse) ( https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/09/education-and-economic-mobility/541041/ (2/10)

"low-income children who grew up with parents in unions earned more as adults than the children of nonunion parents... making it easier for individuals to collectively bargain would likely help boost economic mobility"
(as above, citing the @OppInsights academics)
(3/10)

When there's fewer union members, there's more inequality, see graphic (via @IPPR), and when there's more inequality, the ability of the rich to outbid the rest of us for opportunities (e.g. a house in the catchment area of the right school) is greater.
(4/10)

Unions are often direct providers of workforce training, & their presence in a workplace increases the likelihood of training being provided by the employer; increasing odds of intragenerational upward social mobility.
(research by @CERIC_LUBS)
https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/Skils_and_training.pdf
(5/10)

(e.g. @AngelaRayner, Labour's Deputy Leader, who "‘left school with nothing’, and only found educational inspiration years later, through Unionlearn (a TUC programme): ‘once I found something I was interested in’, she says, ‘I excelled.’"
( https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-end-of-aspiration, p 86)
(6/10)

Union members are less vulnerable to income insecurities that produce a "substantial increase in mental distress [with] knock-on effects on family members" (Prof Francis Green) incl. greater incidence of risk- (&-opportunity-averse) mindset in kids
https://wol.iza.org/opinions/job-insecurity-is-bad-for-our-health
(7/10)

Union membership, & the improved working conditions it brings, also produces improved self-esteem, which is associated with better mental & physical health, which also has knock-on effects on workers' kid's confidence & likelihood to thrive ( https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-end-of-aspiration, p32
(8/10)

unions also provide "route to social mobility through the union’s own hierarchy (including for individuals whose refusal to adopt a quiet compliance led to them being deemed un-academic as schoolchildren, but well-suited to assertive negotiation as adults)"
(as above, p181)
9/10

There's more, but I've already worked longer than is healthy today (a phenomenon less common in unionised workplaces)

#SocialMobility #Inequality #JoinAUnion
(10/10)