Organized Labor's Contribution to the Human Services: Lessons from the Past and Strategies for the Future

Workers' rights are human rights: organizing the psychology of labor movements

A surprisingly small body of research in psychology documents the costs and benefits of labor unions on an individual's psyche. However, the importance of labor unions - so critical it was codified in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights - requires a renewed examination of labor movements beyond the individual differences that predict labor membership. I review the body of evidence that shows labor has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on the workplace and have begun to use social movement actions of growing support and building power. I conclude by highlighting new questions for future research, and calling on a renewal of union psychology research by studying unionization as the emergence of a new culture.