Membership Rate Falls for U.S. Unions in 2014

[Omaha Steve]

Source: WSJ

By MELANIE TROTTMAN

The rate of U.S. union membership fell slightly in 2014, continuing a trend of stagnation that suggests the labor movement will have to work harder to rebound from its decadeslong slide.

Figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics said the combined rate of private- and public-sector union membership was 11.1% last year, down from 11.3% the prior year. Membership in the private sector fell to a rate of 6.6% in 2014, from 6.7%, while public-sector representation rose slightly to 35.7%, from 35.3%.

Unions managed to collectively add about 41,000 members in the private sector, led by industries such as construction and leisure and hospitality, but it wasn’t enough to keep pace with total private-sector employment, said John Schmitt, a senior economist at the left-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research.

“The overall workforce is growing faster than the union workforce,” said Mr. Schmitt, who said unions gained members in part because of workers who got new jobs in unionized facilities.

FULL story at link.



In this Aug. 14, 2014 photo, Anne White, right, and Felicia Zerilli, second from left, take a coffee break with co-workers on a construction site where they work, in New York. Zerilli, a shop steward, and White, a laborer, are two of 220 women in the 7,000 member Laborers Local 79 union. The latest federal data shows about 7.1 million Americans were employed in construction-related occupations last year and only 2.6 percent were women. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) Published Credit: Associated Press PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/membership-rate-falls-for-u-s-unions-in-2014-1422028558

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Go read some of the comments at the link

[Thinkingabout]

1. Union membership has been declining since Reagan busted the Air Traffic Controllers union.

A lot of diminished earning also began to fall during the Reagan years.

[Sopkoviak]

3. At their peak in 1954, 34.8% of all U.S. wage and salary workers belonged to unions

As of last year (2013), however, only 11.3% of wage and salary workers belonged to unions, down from 20.1% in 1983, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/20/for-american-unions-membership-trails-far-behind-public-support/

[kelliekat44]

2. Thanks to the GOP's relentless attack on working men and women. nt

[Munificence]

5. And NAFTA

[lobodons]

4. Koch Brothers: Mission Accomplished

However, Unions will be back!! It may take a generation, but they will be back.

[OnlinePoker]

6. Here's a breakdown by industry type comparing 2013 and 2014

Almost half (7.927 million) unionized workers (or represented by unions) are in the government at one level or another, but even there they still only represent 39% of workers. I wonder if police unions are included in this?

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.t03.htm