Martin Manley

A Better Bargain: Mobilizing Employers and Workers to Grow America's Middle Class Martin Manley

In A Better Bargain, Martin Manley delivers a compelling case for a modern form of income bargaining to grow America's vital middle class. He describes why investments in education, technology, or trade are unlikely to raise the pay of below-median workers. He argues that higher minimum wages or basic incomes can reduce poverty, but do little for those earning $40-$70,000 per year.

Writing as a former union organizer, Assistant US Labor Secretary, and successful technology entrepreneur, Manley challenges conventional wisdom about how best to distribute pay in a modern economy. This well-crafted and provocative narrative describes how employers can organize to strengthen labor markets with unions that are as easy to form, join, or quit as a bowling league.

A Better Bargain is a manifesto for renewing the American middle class. It outlines the rules, incentives, and information needed for income bargaining to grow competitive businesses, strengthen civil society, and once again award larger pay raises to those who earn the least.