It is almost common these days for an industry to have a workers' union representing the employees. Workers organize and hire union representatives to create better working conditions and better wage practices. Unions also negotiate and speak on behalf of workers when negotiating benefits such as retirement. When a union uses its collective bargaining power and demonstrates strength during negotiations, it gives workers the opportunity to control their financial future. A collective voice allows employees to fight for health and retirement benefits as well as the opportunity to share in profits. The union also ensures improved health and safety policies and procedures in the workplace. A blog post on City-data.com states that "since the nation's first union in 1724 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Carpenter's Company Union, a group of shoemakers (n.d.) organized, it left to the United Steelworkers and and In recent years, the Public Sector Workers Union, organizing labor with the help of government leaders at the state and local levels, has been feeling financial pain and passing that pain on to taxpayers. As wages, benefits and pensions continue to rise in the public sector, the federal government will go bankrupt. Before unionization, public sector jobs were attractive because of job security and benefits. For these reasons alone, it was acceptable for government salaries to be lower than private sector salaries for comparable positions. One civil servant expected to be paid less because he realized the value of his career choice as a civil servant, with a balance of benefits and pension. It was not until the early 1960s that public sector workers were legally allowed to pass paper. “Unions are good for the American economy.” www.americanprogressaction.org. Center for American Progress Fund, 02182009. Web. Accessed October 17, 2010. Munnell, Alicia H., Jean-Pierre Aubry and Laura Quinby. “The Impact of Public Pensions on State and Local Budgets.” State and local pension plans SlP.13 (2010): n. page. Internet. Retrieved October 17, 2010. "Pennsylvania - Labor." city-data.com. Advameg, Inc., nd Web. Retrieved October 17, 2010. .Rasmussen, Kristina. “The Christie way versus the Quinn way.” biggovernment.com (2010): n. page. Internet. Retrieved October 10 2010. .