Union card is still
a good investment
• In almost every occupation and
demographic, union members in-
creased their advantage in earnings
over their nonunion colleagues in
2006. The median weekly earnings
figure for union members nation-
wide — that point at which half are
above and half are below — was
$833 in 2006, up by $32 (3.85 per-
cent) in one year. The median for
nonunion workers rose by $20 to
$642 in 2006. The median for all
workers also rose by $20, to $671.
• Union members had an edge in
median weekly earnings in factories
($755 to $692 for nonunion), con-
struction ($969 to $610), retail
($583 to $518) and almost every-
where else in 2006. Retail trade was
the sole occupation where the me-
dian for union members slid ($7),
while the median for nonunion
workers rose ($5).
• In 2006, the union membership
rate was higher for men (13 percent)
than for women (10.9 percent). The
gap between their rates has nar-
rowed considerably since 1983,
when the rate for men was about 10
percentage points higher than the
rate for women. This narrowing oc-
curred because the union member-
ship rate for men declined more rap-
idly than the rate for women.
• Black workers were more likely
to be union members (14.5 percent)
than were whites (11.7 percent),
Asians (10.4 percent), or Hispanics
(9.8 percent).
• Among age groups, union
membership rates were highest
among workers 45 to 64 years old
(16 percent) and were lowest among
those ages 16 to 24 (4.4 percent).
Q
Union membership in U.S. falls by 326,000
Washington State bucks
the trend with a 26,000-
member increase
The number of workers in the
United States belonging to a union fell
by 326,000 in 2006 to 15.4 million —
or 12 percent of the workforce — ac-
cording to the latest statistics released
by the U.S. Department of Labor.
In Oregon, union membership fell
from 213,000 in 2005 to an estimated
211,000 last year. That’s 13.8 percent
of the workforce.
Washington State bucked the trend,
increasing its ranks by 26,000 mem-
bers last year to an estimated 549,000
members, or 19.8 percent of the work-
force.
Washington now ranks fifth-highest
in the nation in terms of union density,
trailing only Hawaii (24.7 percent),
New York (24.4 percent), Alaska (22.2
percent), and New Jersey (20.1 per-
cent).
Among the five states reporting
union membership rates below 5 per-
cent in 2006, North Carolina and
South Carolina continued to post the
lowest rates (3.3 percent each). The
next lowest rates were recorded in Vir-
ginia (4 percent), Georgia (4.4 per-
cent), and Texas (4.9 percent).
Nationally, the public sector still
has the highest number of organized
workers, at 36.2 percent. In the private
sectors only 7.4 percent of workers are
represented.
The largest decrease in union mem-
bership rates occurred in manufactur-
ing, where union membership dropped
1.3 percentage points to just 11.7 per-
cent of manufacturing workers. For the
first time since the Bureau of Labor
Statistics began tracking these trends,
and likely for the first time in U.S. his-
tory, union membership rates were
Quest
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lower in manufacturing (11.7 percent)
than in the rest of the economy (12.0
percent), reported the Center for Eco-
nomic and Policy Research.
The national unionization rate has
steadily declined from a high of 20.1
percent in 1983, the first year for
which comparable union data are
available.
“While I’m very encouraged that
more workers in Washington State
have organized to gain a voice at work
and win strong union contracts, this
news about declining national mem-
bership is another troubling sign that
America’s middle class is struggling,”
said Rick Bender, president of the
Washington State Labor Council,
AFL-CIO. “It’s bad news for all
workers, not just union members,
when fewer of us have a contract to
protect our living standards from being
eroded away.”
He said the factors that have con-
tributed to the national decline include
the outsourcing of jobs, the decline of
America’s once-powerful manufactur-
ing sector and the enormous difficulty
workers face when trying to form or
join unions to improve their lives.
A recent survey by Peter D. Hart
Research Associates shows that the
public support of unions is at a 25-year
high — 65 percent approve of unions
while only 25 percent disapprove.
More than half of all workers say they
would join a union today if given the
chance.
According to last week’s Depart-
ment of Labor report, full-time wage
and salary workers who were union
members in 2006 had median weekly
earnings of $833, compared with a
median of $642 for wage and salary
workers who were not represented by
unions. Unionized workers also are
more likely to have better employer-
paid health insurance and pensions.
The biggest obstacle, Bender said,
is that “too many unscrupulous em-
ployers routinely fire, harass and in-
timidate workers who express interest
in joining unions — even though
that’s supposed to be illegal.”
Weak labor laws have allowed
union-busting consultants to make the
union election process a virtual mine-
field. Studies have found that among
employers faced with union organiz-
ing campaigns:
• 30 percent will fire pro-union
workers.
• 49 percent will threaten to close a
worksite, but only 2 percent actually do.
• 51 percent will coerce workers
into opposing unions with bribery or
favoritism.
• 82 percent will hire high-priced
union-busting consultants to fight
union organizing drives.
• 91 percent will force employees
to attend one-on-one anti-union meet-
ings with their supervisors.
To combat this, unions are lobbying
for legislation at both federal and state
levels that would allow workers to
form a union by simply signing au-
thorization cards.
The Employee Free Choice Act
will be re-introduced in Congress later
this year.
Last year, the EFCA was co-spon-
sored by 215 U.S. representatives and
44 senators.
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Oregon Governor’s
Occupational
Safety & Health Conference
MARCH 12-15, 2007
Oregon Convention Center Portland
Basic, intermediate and advanced workshops and sessions
offering occupational safety and health solutions for:
• Construction
• General Industries
• Healthcare
• Manufacturing
• Public agencies
and utilities
For Exhibits Application and Conference Registration:
contact the Conference Section at (503) 378-3272
or e-mail: oregon.gosh@state.or.us
Also, visit the following Web sites:
assecwc.org orosha.org/conferences
A joint effort of ASSE, Columbia-Willamette Chapter, and Oregon OSHA
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
PAGE 5