Unions improve the lives of their members by raising wages, increasing overall economic security, making workplaces safer and generally giving workers a voice on the job. But less well understood are the contributions unions make to social well-being beyond their memberships.

New research from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) shows the positive correlation between unionization rates and social-being, particularly on measures related to the environment, income equality, and public health.

In “The Case For Pro-Union Public Policy: Unionization And Social Well-Being In Canadian Provinces,” authors Ian Hudson, Mark Hudson, Fond Udoh, and Anupam Das examine the connections between provincial unionization rates and three “uncontroversial elements of a good society”: environmental quality, income distribution and poverty, and health outcomes.

As the authors point out, we know that unions aim to advance the interests of their members, but we need a better grasp on whether and to what degree they “protect, advance, or detract from collective well-being for everyone.” The report thus comments on a range of empirical experiments to determine the extent that unionization improves social well-being overall.