Social Finance Working Paper #56: Strategies for unions to provide benefits and financial services to workers

Experiences in the United States

In the United States, trade unions have long played a leading role in providing benefits and financial services for workers. Going back over 100 years, they have set up their own health and pension plans, established insurance and banking institutions, and more recently assisted members with direct access to individual financial services.
What have been the successes and challenges of these endeavours? What does union leadership see as the key lessons learnt from past results, and what challenges do they see ahead?