Overall Union Membership Notches Up from 2010 to 2011
Overall union membership increased by 49,000 from 2010 to 2011, including 15,000 new 16- to 24-year-old members, according to new U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data out this morning. An increase of 110,000 in the private sector was partially offset by a decline of 61,000 in the public sector, making the rate of union membership essentially unchanged at 11.8 percent, with some 14.8 million U.S. workers union members.
Public-sector density increased from 36.2 percent to 37 percent though November 2011. Private-sector union membership remains at 6.9 percent. The largest increases in union membership were in construction, health care services, retail trade, primary metals and fabricated metal products, hospitals, transportation and warehousing.
Bottom line, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:
Despite an unprecedented volley of partisan political attacks on workers’ rights and the continuing insecurity of our economic crisis, union membership increased slightly last year. Working men and women want to come together and to improve their lives.
Huge NYC Union March Set to Spotlight Occupy Wall Street Protest
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New York area union members will join an expected several thousand labor activists and supporters today in a Wall Street march and rally in support of the Occupy Wall Street protesters.
The grassroots-grown protest is now in its third week, with a diverse array of people from across the country camping out in the heart of the financial district to demand Wall Street is held accountable for the schemes and reckless games that led to the nation’s economic collapse.
The mostly young Occupy Wall Street protesters are “speaking for the vast majority of Americans who are frustrated by the bankers and brokers who have profited on the backs of hard working people,” says Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) President Larry Hanley.
Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), says Occupy Wall Street “has brought into sharp focus a reality that cannot be denied.”
Mass. Nurses Approve New Contract—and More Bargaining News
Nurses from the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA/NNU) ratified a new contract with two hospitals and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,400 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work
SETTLEMENTS
MNA/NNU, Cape Cod Hospital Group: Members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA/NNU) at Cape Cod and Falmouth Hospitals ratified a new three-year contract, retroactive to Oct. 1, 2010. The contract includes staffing improvements, placing strict limits on the hospitals’ use of mandatory overtime and creating a staffing committee to review staffing levels for patient and nurse safety.
Nurses and Health Professionals /AFT, Milwaukee County: The Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (WFNHP/AFT) won a one-year contract extension for Milwaukee County nurses, just before the state’s new anti-collective bargaining bill takes effect. AFSCME District Council 48, which represents 3,500 county workers, is hoping to similarly reach a new deal before Wednesday, when the state law goes into effect. Read the rest of this entry »
L.A. Engineers Ratify New Contract—and More Bargaining News
Some 3,700 engineers and architects who work for the City of Los Angeles have a new contract—and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,300 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS
EAA-AFT, City of Los Angeles: Engineers and architects for the city of Los Angeles approved a contract covering 3,700 employees. Members of the Engineers and Architects Association-AFT (EAA-AFT) agreed to a one-year deal that has workers pay more toward health care in return for a reduced number of mandatory furlough hours.
MNA-NNU, St. Mary’s Medical Center: Nurses at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth, Minn., ratified a three-year contract that addresses the nurses’ staffing concerns and raises wages. The deal covers nearly 1,000 members of the Minnesota Nurses Association-NNU (MNA-NNU).
New York State Workers Fight Layoffs—and More Bargaining News
New York state employees are fighting unilateral layoffs, and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,300 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
NEGOTIATIONS
Multiple, State of New York: New York Gov. David Paterson last week announced plans to move ahead with the layoffs of state workers, seemingly in violation of an agreement he reached with the Civil Service Employees Association/AFSCME and the Public Employees Federation/AFT-SEIU that guaranteed no layoffs before 2011. Danny Donohue, president of CSEA, said the announcement was “counterproductive, impractical and bad for New Yorkers all around.”
Is the Applesauce King a Greedy Corporate Despot?
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Dr. Pepper Snapple (DPS), the food and drink conglomerate that owns Mott’s of applesauce and apple juice fame, made $550 million in profits last year and paid its CEO, Larry Young, $6.5 million in total compensation–double what he earned in 2007. Darn good numbers in the middle of the worst economic down turn in decades.
At the same time Young and DPS are raking in millions, they are ready to drastically cut the wages, pension and health benefits of the 300 full-time workers at Mott’s upstate New York plant, it’s only applesauce plant.
Yesterday, several of those workers from the Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union/UFCW (RWDSU/) Local 220 confronted Young and the DPS board of directors at the company’s shareholder meeting in Frisco, Texas.
The workers’ contract at the Williamson, N.Y., plant expired April 16 and the company demanded a $1.50 per hour wage cut for all workers, a pension freeze for current employees and elimination of a pension for future employees, decreased employer contributions to the company’s 401(k) retirement plan and increased employee contributions toward health care premiums and co-pays. Read the rest of this entry »
U.S. Unemployment Rate Now 9.4 Percent
In May across the nation, 345,000 jobs were lost, worsening the U.S. unemployment rate to 9.4 percent, according to data released today by the Department of Labor.
There are now 14.5 million jobless U.S. workers, a number that doesn’t reflect the severity of the problem. If those who are underemployed or who want a job but have given up looking are counted, the broader U.S. unemployment rate stands at 16.4 percent—more than
25 million Americans who need jobs or full-time work but cannot find it.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by 268,000 over the month to 3.9 million and has tripled since the start of the recession in December 2007.
Bad, Bad, Bad Jobs Report: Unemployment at 8.1 Percent
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Stunningly bad news on the nation’s jobless rate today: Unemployment worsened to 8.1 percent in February, from 7.6 percent in January, the highest level in more than a quarter century, according to Labor Department data released today.
We’re now looking at historical comparisons of joblessness not to the bad recession of the Reagan years but to the Depression era. This from Bloomberg:
Employers eliminated 651,000 jobs, the third straight month that losses surpassed 600,000—the first time that’s happened since the data began in 1939.
