Highlights from the 2011 BLS report:
• 7.6 million employees in the public sector belonged to a union, com-
pared with 7.2 million union workers in the private sector.
• The union membership rate for public-sector workers (37 percent) was
substantially higher than the rate for private-sector workers (6.9 percent).
• Within the public sector, local government workers had the highest union
membership rate, 43.2 percent. This group includes workers in heavily union-
ized occupations, such as teachers, police officers, and firefighters.
• Private-sector industries with high unionization rates included trans-
portation and utilities (21.1 percent) and construction (14 percent), while low
unionization rates occurred in agriculture (1.4 percent) and financial activities
(1.6 percent).
• Among occupational groups, education, training, and library occupa-
tions (36.8 percent) and protective service occupations (34.5 percent) had the
highest unionization rates in 2011. Sales and related occupations (3 percent)
and farming, fishing, and forestry occupations (3.4 percent) had the lowest
unionization rates.
• 16.3 million wage and salary workers were represented by a union. This
group includes both union members (14.8 million) and workers who report no
union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union contract (1.5 million).
Government employees comprised about half of the 1.5 million workers who
were covered by a union contract but were not members of a union.
• The union membership rate was higher for men (12.4 percent) than for
women (11.2 percent). The gap between their rates has narrowed considerably
since 1983, when the rate for men was about 10 percentage points higher
than the rate for women. Between 1983 and 2011, the union membership rate
for men declined by almost half (12.3 percentage points), while the rate for
women declined by 3.4 percentage points.
• Among major race and ethnicity groups, black workers were more likely
to be union members (13.5 percent) than workers who were white (11.6 per-
cent), Asian (10.1 percent), or Hispanic (9.7 percent). Black men had the
highest union membership rate (14.6 percent), while Asian men had the low-
est rate (9.1 percent).
• By age, the union membership rate was highest among workers 55 to 64
years old (15.7 percent). The lowest union membership rate occurred among
those ages 16 to 24 (4.4 percent).
• 15,000 new 16- to 24-year-old union members.
Unions split on Keystone pipeline
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI)—
Union leaders split on the Obama Ad-
ministration’s Jan. 18 denial of a federal
permit to build a 1,700-mile Keystone
XL oil pipeline from the U.S.-Canada
border to the Texas Gulf Coast. Con-
struction unions called the ruling a “job
killer,” while five other unions sided
with environmental groups against the
project.
President Obama said the controver-
sial project could not be constructed as
planned by its sponsor, TransCanada, be-
cause it would endanger a valuable un-
derground aquifer in Nebraska. He said
TransCanada could reapply once it
worked out a new route around the
aquifer. TransCanada said it would do so.
Environmental groups strongly op-
posed the pipeline, saying it would
pump bitumen-laden “dirty oil” from
Albertan tar sands to the Gulf Coast, in-
creasing the pollution that leads to
global warming. The Transport Work-
ers, United Steelworkers, Communica-
tions Workers of America, United Auto
Workers, and Service Employees sided
with them.
Construction union presidents were
particularly upset because four unions
had signed a project labor agreement
(PLA) with TransCanada several years
ago assuring the pipeline would be built
with union labor. At that time, the
unions calculated the pipeline’s con-
struction would employ 20,000 work-
ers directly and many thousands more
indirectly.
An environmental impact statement
by the State Department, which evalu-
ated Keystone since it crossed the inter-
national border, put the construction job
figure at 5,000-7,000. Still, it meant
jobs, and Obama’s decision led Build-
ing Trades Department President Mark
Ayers to blast the politics behind it.
“Today, the words ‘We Can’t Wait’
truly ring hollow for skilled craft con-
struction professionals across this na-
tion,” Ayers said, referring to Obama’s
pro-jobs theme and his chastisement of
the GOP-run House for not passing jobs
bills.
“With a national unemployment rate
in construction at 16 percent, it is be-
yond disappointing that President
Obama placed a higher priority on pol-
itics rather than our nation’s Number
One challenge — jobs,” Ayers said.
Unions and environmental groups
that praised Obama issued a joint state-
ment lauding his decision to go slow —
and blaming House Republicans for
forcing the ruling by mid-February for
political purposes, while ignoring or
killing other pro-jobs legislation.
“In a cynical move, the House Re-
publican leadership called for a rapid
decision on the pipeline in exchange for
agreeing to keep the payroll tax cut in
place,” the union leaders said. “The
payroll tax cut enacted last year has
been an important part of efforts to turn
around our struggling economy. While
the House Republicans wrapped job
creation rhetoric around their pipeline
demands, they have rejected numerous
opportunities to support programs cre-
ating good U.S. jobs.
“A project this far-reaching deserved
better than the ‘politics as usual’ strat-
egy of a do-nothing Republican Con-
gress. Their job blackmail agenda is
simply wedge politics,” the union lead-
ers added.
International Brotherhood of Electri-
cal Workers President Ed Hill said his
union is “disappointed” by Obama’s de-
cision, but he also cited the second
chance Obama gave Keystone.
“We are treating today’s decision as
a temporary setback,” Hill said. “We
believe the decision-making process has
been caught up in political gamesman-
ship. To Democrats who oppose the
pipeline on well-meaning but mis-
guided environmental grounds and Re-
publicans who routinely vote against
every jobs bill except Keystone, we
pose this question: ‘What are your plans
to replace the 20,000 jobs that are now
on hold?’ ”
...Union membership
(From Page 1)
nonunion workers. Union women
earned median weekly earnings of
$879, an amount 34.6 percent higher
than their nonunion counterparts, who
earned just $653 by comparison.
“Prior reporting shows that union
members have greater access to health
care, retirement and leave benefits,”
commented U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda
Solis. “These numbers make it clear that
union jobs are critical to a strong econ-
omy. And a strong economy depends on
a strong and growing middle class.”
Oregon’s 17.1 percent union density
ranked tied for seventh with California
out of the 50 states and District of Co-
lumbia. California lost 52,000 union
members last year.
New York topped the union density
PAGE 8
list with 24.1 percent of its wage and
hourly workers belonging to a union.
Alaska followed with 22.1 percent;
Hawaii, with 21.5 percent; Washington,
with 19 percent; and Michigan, with
17.5 percent.
Seven right-to-work states had union
membership rates below 5 percent in
2011, with North Carolina the lowest at
2.9 percent. The next lowest rates were
recorded in South Carolina (3.4), Geor-
gia (3.9), Arkansas (4.2), Louisiana
(4.5), and Tennessee and Virginia (4.6
percent each).
The data on union membership
were collected as part of the Current
Population Survey, a monthly sample
survey of about 60,000 households that
obtains information on employment
and unemployment among the nation’s
civilian population age 16 and over.
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
FEBRUARY 3, 2012