The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released figures showing that in 2005, 12.5 percent of wage and salary workers were union members, the same percentage as in 2004. Note that while the percentage remained steady, the actual number of union members increased by 213,000. Union membership was at a peak of 20.1 percent in 1983, the first year that comparable union data was tracked.
In response to the new figures, AFL-CIO president John Sweeney expressed pleasure that the data shows a reversal of the trend of decline in recent years. Said Sweeney: “In a political climate that’s hostile to workers’ rights, these numbers illustrate the extraordinary will of workers to gain a voice on the job despite enormous obstacles.”
Other highlights of the new BLS data on union membership include:
- Nearly 15.7 million wage and salary workers were union members in 2005.
- Men are more likely than women to be union members.
- Workers in the public sector have a union membership rate (36.5 percent) more than four times the rate of employees in the private sector (7.8 percent). And within the public sector, local government workers such as teachers, fire fighters, and police officers, have the highest union membership rate at 41.9 percent.
Join us this fall in San Francisco for the California Employment Law Update conference, a 3-day event that will teach you everything you need to know about new laws and regulations, and your compliance obligations, for the year ahead—it’s one-stop shopping at its best.
Additional Resources:
Bureau of Labor Statistics: Union Membership for 2005
“Union Organizing: Powerful Unions Split from AFL-CIO; Employers Should Prepare for Aggressive Organizing Push,” in the September 2005 issue of the California Employer Advisor.