Unions Stem Decline; Add 331,000 Members
February 2, 2008
by Employment & Labor Law / Employee Benefits Group
Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP
Copyright © 2008
"In 2007, the number of workers belonging to a union rose by 311,000 to 15.7 million," according to a January 25, 2008 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The percentage of employees in the private sector who were union members inched up to 7.5 percent in 2007, a slight increase from the prior year (7.4 percent).
Union Members – Overall, "union members accounted for 12.1 percent of employed wage and salary workers, essentially unchanged from 12.0 percent in 2006. In 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent."
Public Sector vs. Private Sector – "The union membership rate for public sector workers (35.9 percent) was substantially higher than for private industry workers (7.5 percent)."
Industries – Among private industries, utilities (28.4 percent) had the highest union membership rate in 2007, followed by transportation and warehousing (20.9 percent), telecommunications (19.7 percent), construction (13.9 percent), educational services (12.6 percent), motion pictures and sound recording (11.5 percent), and manufacturing (11.3 percent).
Men and Women – "In 2007, the union membership rate was higher for men (13.0 percent) than for women (11.1 percent). The gap between their rates has narrowed considerably since 1983, when the rate for men was about 10 percent points higher than the rate for women. The rates for both men and women declined between 1983 and 2007, but the rate for men declined much more rapidly."
Race of Union Members – "Black workers were more likely to be union members (14.3 percent) than were whites (11.8 percent), Asians (10.9 percent), or Hispanics (9.8 percent). Within these major groups, black men had the highest union membership rate (15.8 percent) while Hispanic women had the lowest rate (9.6 percent)."
Age of Union Members – "Among the age groups, union membership rates were highest among workers 55 to 64 years old (16.1 percent) and 45 to 54 years old (15.7 percent). The lowest union membership rates occurred among those ages 16 to 24 (4.8 percent)."
Full-time vs. Part-time – Full-time workers were about twice as likely as part-time workers to be union members, 13.2 compared with 6.5 percent.”
Non-members – "About 1.6 million wage and salary workers were represented by a union on their main job in 2007, while not being union members themselves. Slightly more than half of those workers were employed in government."
States – Nearly half (7.8 million) of the 15.7 million union members in the U.S. live in just six states: California (2.5 million), New York (2.1 million), Illinois (0.8 million), Pennsylvania (0.8 million), and New Jersey (0.7 million).
Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Arizona – In 2007, the percentage of workers represented by a union declined in Kansas (from 9.3 to 8.7 percent), remained the same in Arizona (9.7 percent) and Missouri (11.9 percent), and increased in Nebraska (from 9.5 to 9.7 percent).
Bottom Line – Organized labor is intent on electing a Democrat President and a Democrat-controlled Congress in November 2008 as the first step toward passing the Employee “Free-Choice” Act in 2009. The controversial union organizing bill would no longer require employees to vote for unions in secret ballot elections conducted by the National Labor Relations Board, but instead would require employers to recognize and bargain with a union after a majority of workers signed union authorization cards.
Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP is one of the country's largest law firms with more than 360 attorneys in more than 45-industry-focused areas. If you would like more information regarding this summary, please contact one of our Employment & Labor Law and Employee Benefits attorneys.
Law at Work is designed to give general information and is not intended to be a comprehensive summary or to treat exhaustively the subjects and matters covered. The information appearing herein does not constitute legal advice or opinions. Such advice and opinions are provided only upon engagement with respect to specific factual situations. Nothing contained herein shall be considered as an admission in any matter or controversy.
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