ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – As National Wellness Month overlaps with the countdown to Labor Day, unions focus on the health and safety of those who build and power our communities.
A Bureau of Labor Statistics report found:
- 95% of union workers have access to retirement benefits, compared to 72% of non-union workers
- 77% of union workers have access to family coverage medical premiums paid by employers, compared to 67% of non-union workers
- 87% of union workers have access to life insurance benefits, compared to 58% of non-union workers
“We are the side of the industry that is investing in worker protection, worker education, health and welfare, retirement benefits that go above and beyond what the non-union side is. So, when it comes to safety on the job, when it comes to making sure people have access to health care, the union sector is leaps and bounds above the other side of the industry,” Paul Nolley, Executive Director of Rockford-based nonprofit trade union partnership organization Project First Rate, said.
According to its website, Project First Rate is a “partnership between union contractors and tradespeople to promote and advance the values and principles that strengthen our community, members, and industry. We believe that hard work, craftsmanship, and pride in a job done well should be rewarded with good wages, benefits, and a dignified retirement.”…