New evidence shows that unions played a major role in reducing income inequality in the United States in the decades when organized labor was strong.

But it also demonstrates that the decline in union power since the 1960s — which may be exacerbated as a result of a recent Supreme Court decision— has contributed to the widening gap between rich and poor.

The new insights come from a working paper, “Unions and Inequality Over the Twentieth Century: New Evidence from Survey Data,” by four economists: Henry Farber, Daniel Herbst and Ilyana Kuziemko of Princeton, and Suresh Naidu of Columbia. They establish that unions have constrained income inequality far beyond their own membership ranks.

While the scholars can’t pinpoint the precise mechanism at work, they speculate that unions have indirectly increased pay at firms nervous that their own employees might organize. Unions have also lobbied for higher minimum wages and pushed to hold down executive salaries. They have also advocated for broader access to health care, countering a key channel through which income inequality can harm all of society.

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Right-to-work is steeped in deception, starting with the title. It does not bring in new business, but rather puts corporate profits before the public good.

Former Rep. Eric Burlison (R133) sponsored A.L.E.C.’s RTW fill-in-the-blank legislation, putting a thumb on the scale, favoring corporate owners over workers.

RTW is bipartisan, harming all “employees” across the political spectrum by destroying worker protections and benefits and gutting pensions.

More than 55 percent of non-union workers are subject to forced arbitration through their employment contracts. Workers only win 21 percent of the time, with settlements averaging $100,000. They win 57 percent of the time in state court with settlements running around $500,000. Since attorneys’ fees are based on settlement amount, they are less likely to take an arbitration case. Injured workers are left with a stacked deck.

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In a case involving the rights of tens of millions of private sector employees, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, delivered a major blow to workers, ruling for the first time that workers may not band together to challenge violations of federal labor laws.

Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch said that the 1925 Federal Arbitration Act trumps the National Labor Relations Act and that employees who sign employment agreements to arbitrate claims must do so on an individual basis — and may not band together to enforce claims of wage and hour violations.

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The U.S. Supreme Court will issue a decision on the Janus v. AFSCME case, which is part of the “right-to-work” agenda.

For people not familiar with “right-to-work,” it is a misnomer; it isn’t about the right to hold a job, work for a fair living and support your family. Instead, it is about the right to work for a company that wants to pay you less for the same amount of work done each day, if not more. It is about stripping away the rights of being a card-carrying union member. It is a chance for the big corporations to take away your right to be able to bargain collectively for fair wages, benefits, vacation and sick days.

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