Union Membership Inches Up In 2008, But EFCA Still Needed

[Omaha Steve]

http://progressillinois.com/2009/1/28/union-membership-rises-efca

by Adam Doster on January 28, 2009 - 5:59pm

Organized labor may have weathered a long storm of declining membership, but according to an annual union membership report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) today, 2008 saw some gains.

In all, there were 16.1 million union members on the employment rolls at the end of last year, amounting to 12.4 percent of the U.S. workforce. This represents an increase of 420,000 new members. Membership grew most -- by nearly a full percentage point -- in the public sector, to 36.8 percent.

For workers, the wage benefits of joining are unmistakable. The report found that "among full-time wage and salary workers, union members had median usual weekly earnings of $886 while those who were not represented by unions had median weekly earnings of $691."

Ben Zipperer, a senior research associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), adds some historical context:

In 2008, union employment successfully weathered the beginnings of what may be the most severe recession in the post-World War II period. Compared to the historical trend of U.S. union membership, even in times of labor market strength, the membership gains in 2008 stand out. The statistically significant rise from 12.1 to 12.4 percent, approaching nearly half a million members, is the largest on record since 1983, the first year for which comparable data are available. Except for last year’s increase and a small uptick in 2007, union membership has otherwise fallen or stagnated annually from 20.1 percent in 1983.

Indeed, last year's gains do not lessen the need for the Employee Free Choice Act.

“The large majority of growth,” writes CEPR Senior Economist John Schmitt over email, “appears to have taken place outside the current company-controlled election process -- either in the public sector, where the NLRB has no jurisdiction, or in areas within the private sector (health, hotels, etc.) where unions have, in recent years, increasingly spurned the NLRB process in favor of other organizing strategies.”

FULL article at link.