Job Crisis Takes Toll on Union Membership

by Mike Hall, Jan 22, 2010

With the economy hemorrhaging jobs—more than 3.3 million jobs lost in 2009—the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show union membership in 2009 dropped slightly, from 12.4 percent of the workforce to 12.3 percent.

Nationwide, union membership dropped by 771,000, to 15.3 million in 2009, according to the BLS.

The recession eliminated jobs across the private sector, but was felt most deeply in manufacturing, transportation and construction—the nation’s economic backbone and heavily unionized sectors of the economy.

The loss in union membership, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, is another indicator of the terrible toll the economic crisis is taking on the nation’s middle class—not just union members.

This is about what’s happening to real wage earners across the country, not just unions or union membership. It matters to us all that we have a strong middle class to build a strong economy. These numbers cry out for urgent, bold action by our leaders to invest in America and create good jobs.

Along with immediate and decisive action and investments in jobs and economic recovery, Trumka says workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain to make their jobs into good jobs with fair wages and better benefits must be restored by passing the Employee Free Choice Act.

According to the BLS numbers, median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary union members were $908 per week, compared with $710 for workers not represented by unions. Union members earn 28 percent more than their nonunion counterparts.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis says the data shows that, along with better wages, union members:

have access to better health care, retirement and leave benefits. These numbers make it clear that union jobs are good jobs….These numbers show a need for Congress to pass legislation to level the playing field to enable more American workers to access the benefits of union membership….The administration supports the Employee Free Choice Act.

Kimberly Freeman Brown, American Rights at Work (ARW) executive director, says:

These numbers show that while America’s workers are struggling, they do choose unions where laws are in place to level the playing field. Unfortunately, union membership still stagnates because too many workers are denied the choice to form a union, both by employers and weak labor laws that won’t hold unscrupulous corporations accountable.

Says AFSCME President Gerald McEntee

As local governments brace for the second wave of the Bush recession, experts expect that as many as 900,000 public sector jobs may be lost.  Losing these vital jobs would undermine the country’s economic recovery, lead to higher unemployment rates and hurt the communities that depend on the services these workers provide. Congress needs to provide states and localities with the resources they need to protect jobs and grow our economy.

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