(CHICAGO) - Earlier This Week, Republican Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner Officially Launched His War Against Government Unions With an Executive Order to Block Fair Share Union Fees and Also Began to Pursue Legal Action to Prevent Public-Sector Unions From Tapping Those Fees.

Rauner State Employees Who Choose Not to Participate in Unions Still Must Pay Fees Through the Provision.  Illinois Labor Blasted Rauner for the Move, Calling it a “Blatantly Illegal Use of Power.”  Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Tom Balanoff Told The Sun-Times Rauner’s Actions Were a “Smokescreen” to Drive Down Working Wages in Illinois.

It’s Anything But a Cut and Dry Issue, But Numerous Studies Support Balanoff’s Statement.

Basically, if You’re Not in a Union, You Probably Should Want to be in One.

For Example: A Teachers Union Study Published in the Economics Of Education Review Found Starting Salaries Were Increased by 3.9% Through Collective Bargaining.  Over the First Five Years, Those Teachers Earned an Average of 5.4% More Than Non-Unionized Teachers.

And the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Data Shows That in 2014, the Median Weekly Earnings of Union Workers Was 27% Higher Than That of Non-Union Workers:

Multiple Studies Also Show Unions Significantly Equalize Pay Among Workers by Raising the Floor and Lowering the Ceiling of Pay Scales.

As a Result, as Union Membership Has Decreased, Income Inequality Has Increased.  A Harvard University Study Showed That From 1973 to 2007, Income Inequality Increased by More Than 40%.

A Study Looking at the Impact of Unionization On the Wage of Hispanic Workers From the National Institute of Economic & Social Research and the University of Oxford Shows the Wage Premium Unions Provide is the Largest for Hispanics, Especially in Low-Wage Jobs.

You Can Directly Access This Labor News Story at: http://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/7/71/358099/financial-impact-unions