NYT/AP: Union Membership Drops to 12 Percent

[DeepModem Mom]

Union Membership Drops to 12 Percent
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 25, 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of wage and salary workers who were union members dropped to 12 percent of the work force last year, the lowest percentage since the government started tracking that number over two decades ago.

The number of workers in a union was 20.1 percent in 1983, when Bureau of Labor Statistics first provided such comparable numbers, and that number has been declining steadily. More than a third of American workers, about 35 percent, were union members in the mid-1950s.

The continuing decline in union membership, documented in the BLS report released Thursday, comes as organized labor is pushing for legislation in the Democratic-controlled Congress making it easier for workers to form unions.

That proposal, called the Employee Free Choice Act, would let workers form unions more readily by simply signing a card or petition, impose stronger penalties on employers who violate labor laws, and allow for arbitration to settle first contract disputes.

Advocates of the legislation say they doubt that it will get signed into law by President Bush, but that they think passage in Congress would make eventual signing of the law more likely....

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Organized-Labor.html

[CrazyOrangeCat]

1. Stranglehold.

:grr:

[underpants]

2. Union membership drops to 12 percent

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070125/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/organized_labor_1

WASHINGTON - The number of wage and salary workers who were union members dropped to 12 percent of the work force last year, the lowest percentage since the government started tracking that number over two decades ago.

The number of workers in a union was 20.1 percent in 1983, when Bureau of Labor Statistics first provided such comparable numbers, and that number has been declining steadily. More than a third of American workers, about 35 percent, were union members in the mid-1950s.

That proposal, called the Employee Free Choice Act, would let workers form unions more readily by simply signing a card or petition, impose stronger penalties on employers who violate labor laws, and allow for arbitration to settle first contract disputes.

The union membership rate for government workers, 36.2 percent, was substantially higher than for private industry workers, 7.4 percent.

[november3rd]

4. Oh shit

Looks like we've all got our "work" cut out for us for the next 25 years: organize.

[Judi Lynn]

3. I've heard Republicans pounding unions throughout my whole life.

They must see this as real progress on the way to remove every vestige of protection for American workers, and recapture total control of the working class.

I hope people will prevail, anyway.

[Omaha Steve]

5. Union Membership Drops to Record Low

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4499634.html

Jan. 25, 2007, 2:58PM
Union Membership Drops to Record Low

By WILL LESTER Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Union membership dropped to 12 percent of U.S. workers last year, extending a steady decline from the 1950s when more than a third belonged to unions.

After membership had held steady at 12.5 percent in 2005, it declined anew last year, a decrease of more than 325,000 workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday.

Membership had been 20.1 percent in 1983, when the bureau first provided comparable numbers. About 35 percent of American workers were union members in the mid-1950s.

The latest gloomy news for organized labor comes at a time when the group is pushing legislation in the Democratic-controlled Congress that would make it easier for unions to organize.

FULL story at link.

[BayCityProgressive]

6. how sad...

if the Dems don't pass laws to support labor it will be gone within 15 years.

[Megahurtz]

7. That can't be good. n/t

[partylessinOhio]

8. Wake the hell up, Amerika! Who do you think protected you all those

years so you had job security (lifetime job), fair and livable wages, benefits, health care, holidays off and vacation pay, overtime pay, savings plans, and life insurance?

Don't you wish you could count on the same today? Don't you wish you still had your jobs?

[entanglement]

9. The union bureaucracy has functioned as a corporate arm for the last 40 years

They've deceived and betrayed workers many times and more people are realizing it. A genuine, grassroots movement for the rights of ALL workers is needed, not further reliance on corrupt union leaders.

[Omaha Steve]

15. That arm spent over 100 million on Dems in the 2006 election...

Thousands of volunteers knocked on doors. The list is long. Dear Entanglement, I think you have been listening to conservative rhetoric. Take a reality pill and read some things for yourself. Or do you have a story of a bad union from your own experiences? I myself won a major NLRB case during the 80's.

[Trillo]

16. I think Entanglement makes one very good point,

that a Union that covers ALL EMPLOYED Workers is a great and needed idea. Get a job, get covered by a Union that bargains on your behalf, no matter the employer.

Otherwise, there is a patchwork of different unions of specialization, which isn't bad, but which does allow many other workers to slip through the cracks.

What is possibly wrong with a single union for all workers?

[Omaha Steve]

22. The all unions are bad attitude bothers me (deceived and betrayed workers, corrupt union leaders)

"They've deceived and betrayed workers many times and more people are realizing it. A genuine, grassroots movement for the rights of ALL workers is needed, not further reliance on corrupt union leaders."

One union for all does make it hard to specialize in areas of safety etc... But I could live with that.

[superconnected]

10. somehow they forgot to mention factories closing and jobs shipped over seas

"Much of the decline is coming from shifts in the economy," said Greg Denier, a spokesman for Change to Win, a federation of labor unions. Thousands of jobs are being outsourced or lost to technological changes. And employers are aggressively campaigning against the formation of unions, he said."

[Beststash]

11. We all might wish for a Union job

I wonder how many of those jobs are Government jobs (local, state, or federal)?? I worked both union and management - Union jobs are definitely a better deal for the worker. I find many in Texas anti-union and most have no experience at all - just some idea that no worker should have any/many rights. Ignorance.

[haele]

12. Is this because there are fewer union jobs?

So many manufacturing jobs - the base of the union are gone. Most corporations manage to re-structure newly acquired companies enough that they can do away with most of the union jobs by making workers "consultants" or private contractors or play games with labor categories so that senior labor positions become management - this is happening more and more with jobs in nursing and retail - and workers can no longer be associated with organized labor.

I don't think it's so much of a matter of less people join unions, but that more people are unable to work and be union members.

Haele

[Clinton_Co_Regulator]

13. K + R

:kick:

[PhilipShore]

14. How can I join?

I would like to join a Union and/or start one for liberal peace activists.

[Omaha Steve]

20. Here is a union that fits your request!

Peace Marchs and all.

http://www.iww.org/

[MikeNearMcChord]

17. I like to think that it is beginning to turn around.

One key will be to get the NLRB out of the hands of the GOP, who appointed pro corporate administrators.

[davekriss]

18. Class War

And our side has been losing for decades.

[ohio2007]

19. offshore jobs and the unemployed ranks surge nt

[llmart]

21. I stuck my neck out at work..........

and organized a unit of 3 management employees. Just do it and don't be intimidated by anyone. There are protections for organizers. Don't sit around and wait for someone else to do it.