Unions Could Be Best Cure for Slowing Retail Worker Turnover (5/3/07)

A new survey by careerbuilder.com shows that nearly half of all retail employers are seeing increased employee turnover. According to the study, 28 percent of employees in the retail sector may be planning to leave their current jobs within a year, and 46 percent within two years.

Workers cited issues like lack of advancement opportunities, low pay, and increased workload to explain their desire to leave the job.
At the same time, studies have shown that union members tend to be more satisfied with their job, more productive, and less likely to leave. Better pay, benefits, and a voice at work keep people on the job.
Unionized workplaces are an estimated 22 percent more productive than those that are not, and a study by labor economists Richard Freeman and James Medoff attributes much of that to reduced turnover.
"What this study indicates is something the RWDSU and more intelligent retailers have understood all along," said RWDSU Vice President Frank Bail.
"The fact is that the short-term economic gains businesses make by having a non-union workforce are outweighed by the competitive edge that comes from having a highly skilled, stable, unionized workforce," Bail said.
"If more retailers understood that they'd embrace us as partners instead of attack us as enemies," Bail added.
Read the survey: