Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 2011)
Feb. 4, 2011:NWLP 2/1/11 10:14 AM Page 2 Despite fall in union membership Pacific Northwest ranks among top 10 in union density 48 10 46 5 44 0 42 Middle Class Share 15 2002 50 2007 20 1997 52 1992 25 1987 (Turn to Page 7) 54 1982 Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act and — most re- cently — the Affordable Care Act. And unions ensure that workers are paid fair wages. Unionized workers to- day make significantly more than their nonunion counterparts — about $2.50 more per hour than an otherwise com- parable worker in the typical state, ac- 30 1977 By KARLA WALTER & DAVID MADLAND Union membership is at record lows. Critics claim that unions are not impor- tant to the modern economy — with only 12 percent of workers currently unionized — but the truth is that if you care about the middle class, you need to care about unions. The middle class is markedly stronger when workers join together in unions. As the chart at right demon- strates, the sharp decline over the past 40 years in the percentage of workers organized in unions has been associated with an equally sharp drop in the share of the nation’s income going to the mid- dle class — those in the second, third and forth income quintiles. The power of unions to create pros- perity for working families is well rec- ognized: Organized labor is one of the few voices for the economic interests of the middle class in our government. Unions were key to creating and pro- tecting the social safety net (including Social Security and Medicare) and win- ning major legislative victories for working families such as the Equal Pay As union membership decreases, middle class income shrinks 1972 As union membership falls, middle class incomes shrink health care and hospitality, were not as hard hit by the recession. As a result, 6.9 percent of private sector workers are unionized, compared to 36.2 per- cent of public workers. Public sector unionists outnumber private sector unionists by 500,000. Some private sector industries are more unionized than others, however: transportation and utilities (21.8 per- cent), telecommunications (15.8 per- cent), and construction (13.1 percent). Since 1983, when BLS first started keeping comparable data, union den- sity among men has declined by 12.1 percent, to 12.6 percent in 2010. The rate for women has dropped 3.5 percent in 27 years, and 0.2 percent from 2009 union members dropped 22,000. Those numbers mirrored a national trend of lower union density in nearly every state in the country. BLS union data analyst Jim Walker told Press Associates Union News Service the recession particularly hit hard at three more-densely unionized sectors: manufacturing, construction and local government. “Also, men dominate those indus- tries — especially manufacturing and construction — and they have a higher share of union membership and were particularly hard hit by the downturn,” he said. By contrast, Walker said more lightly unionized sectors, including 1967 ers. Only New York (24.2 percent), Alaska (22.9 percent) and Hawaii (21.8 percent) have higher unionization rates than Washington. Oregon’s 245,000 union members puts it 10th nationally in union density — at 16.2 percent. States ahead of Oregon in union density are California (17.5 percent), New Jersey (17.1 percent), Connecti- cut (16.7 percent), Michigan (16.5 per- cent), and Rhode Island (16.4 percent). According to BLS statistics, total jobs in Oregon increased by 44,000 in 2010, while union membership fell by 5,000. Total jobs in Washington dropped 10,000 in 2010, but the number of Union Membership Rate The Great Recession has pushed down union membership by 1.3 million over the last two years — nearly double the total gains unions made in 2007-08, according to the latest report from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The number of union members dropped 612,000 to 14.7 million in 2010. The rate of union membership dropped to 11.9 percent, compared to 12.3 percent the previous year. In the state-by-state breakdown, Washington held its No. 4 ranking in terms of union density, with the state’s 552,000 union members accounting for 19.4 percent of the overall workforce — nearly one in five Washington work- Union Membership Rate Middle Class Share of National Income to 2010. It’s now 11.1 percent. Men were also a larger share of unionists in 2010 (54 percent) and in 2009 (55 per- cent) than their share of the total work- force (51 percent). There were some states where union membership increased, with all of them in the South or West. But even there, the recession’s impact appeared. For instance, BLS reported that North Carolina is still last in union den- sity, though it edged up from 3.1 per- cent and 115,000 unionists in 2009 to 3.2 percent and 117,000 last year. The biggest percentage gain was in Kentucky, which added 3,000 union- ists, to 100,000, and density rose from 13.9 percent to 14.8 percent. The wage difference between union and nonunion workers hit a key mile- stone: Precisely $200 a week. Union- ized workers had a median wage of $917 per week compared to $717 for nonunion workers. The median is the point where half the population is above and half is below the figure. The union/nonunion gap widened by $2 in one year. And union women still had a sig- nificantly higher median wage than their nonunion sisters — and were closer to parity with men. In 2010, union women earned a median weekly (Turn to Page 7) (International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X) Established in 1900 at Portland, Oregon as a voice of the labor movement. 4275 NE Halsey St., P.O. Box 13150, Portland, Ore. 97213 Telephone: (503) 288-3311 Editor: Michael Gutwig Staff: Don McIntosh, Cheri Rice Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non- profit corporation owned by 20 unions and councils including the Oregon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Ore- gon and SW Washington. Subscriptions $13.75 per year for union members. Group rates available to trade union organizations. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT PORTLAND, OREGON. CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTICE: Three weeks are required for a change of address. When ordering a change, please give your old and new addresses and the name and number of your local union. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS, P.O. BOX 13150, PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150 PAGE 2 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS FEBRUARY 4, 2011
