FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, January 19, 2011

CONTACT: Gregory Cendana
(916) 284-9839, gcendana@apalanet.org

Washington D.C.-A report released by the Center for Economic & Policy Research, “Unions and Upward Mobility for Asian American and Pacific Islander Workers”, makes clear that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) workers enjoy a major wage and benefit advantage when they belong to unions.

The report found that unionized AAPI workers earn about 14.3 percent or about $2.50 per hour more than non-unionized AAPI workers with similar characteristics.  Unionized Asian Pacific American workers are also 28 percent more likely to have health insurance and 52 percent more likely to have a retirement plan than non-union workers.

“We are glad to know that there is research that backs up what we have known all along about the importance of unions to our community,” said Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) National President Luisa Blue. “Unions are critically important to the economic security of Asian Pacific American families.”

“While unions benefit Asian Pacific American workers, it is far too hard for them to join unions due to our outdated labor laws,” added APALA Executive Director Gregory Cendana.  “APALA will continue to advocate for labor law reform that will allow more people to join unions and build stronger community and labor partnerships within the APA community."

For the full report from the Center for Economic Policy & Research, visit:
http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/unions-aapi-2011-01.pdf.

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The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO was founded in 1992 as the first and only national organization for Asian Pacific American union members to advance worker, immigrant and civil rights.