Retailers are on the front line of labor organizing efforts. The industry is highly competitive, with narrow profit margins. This encourages most retailers to keep the costs of goods and labor as low as possible.
Retail trade covers businesses who sell merchandise to the public. The industry includes a wide range of goods: clothing, shoes, electronics, computers, furniture, appliances, hardware for example. Retailers sell merchandise in small quantities to the general public through stores or other sales venues. In contrast, wholesale trade sells goods to other wholesalers or retailers.
Employment in retail trade is growing. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment averaged 15,319,300 in 2006, about 11.6 percent of all employment. Retail trade employment is expected to grow by 11.0 percent over the 2004-2014 period, less than the projected growth of 14.8 percent for all industry sectors. Non-supervisory workers in retail trade averaged 13,079,500.
In the face of rising health care costs, the lack of affordable health care coverage is a major concern. Retail trade, an industry with many part time workers, is one where health coverage is very limited. Large numbers of families without health insurance increases pressure on public health care and services.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) set affordable health care as a No. 1 priority for its members. The union overtures to corporate leaders led to an unprecedented meeting on health care benefits with executives from AT&T, Intel and Wal-Mart.
Non-supervisory workers in retail trade earned $12.58 per hour in 2006, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In contrast, non-supervisory workers across all industries earned $16.76. Wholesale trade workers did even better at $18.91 per hour. A sales associate in retail trade averages $23,020 a year.
Because of the extreme competition in the Retail Trade sector, low wages in one business tend to drive down wages among competitors. The retail wage competition is characterized as a race to the bottom.
The Employee Free Choice Act (HR 800) is a priority for unions active in the industry. The bill was passed by the House of Representative on March 1, 2007 and awaits Senate action. The legislation seeks to remedy weaknesses in current labor relations law by
- increasing penalties against employers who intimidate employees for unionization activities.
- providing for mediation and arbitration when a new union and the employer cannot agree on an initial contract after 3 months of negotiation.
- accepting signed union cards as the formal emplyee vote for unionization.
The foreign suppliers who provide low-cost goods to the retail industry may not affect retail workers themselves, but they do raise a red flag for the larger labor movement. The AFL-CIO Stop Sweatshops campaign describes the problem:
"From the clothing we wear to the toys our children play with, store shelves are stocked with goods made in sweatshops where workers labor in unsafe conditions and are paid wages so low they must struggle to feed and shelter their families."
- United Food & Commercial Workers, a Change to Win union, is the primary union for retail sales.
- Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a grass-roots union, has taken on Starbucks.
- Service Employees International Union has stepped to the forefront on health insurance coverage.
- The Brotherhood of Teamsters, Warehouse Workers is the union representing Costco workers.
