In 2008, union membership grew by 428,000, increasing the percentage of union members in the workforce to 12.4 percent, up from 12.1 percent in 2007. Overall, 16.1 million workers carry union cards.
Union representation in Minnesota stayed the same from 2007 to 2008, standing at 17 percent of the workforce. Minnesota ranked 13th among the states in the percentage of workers represented by unions. Here are the figures for surrounding states: Wisconsin, 16 percent; Iowa, 13 percent; South Dakota, 6.4 percent; and North Dakota, 8.2 percent.
The BLS survey also reports on the union advantage workers receive on payday. In 2008, full-time union workers earned a median weekly salary of $886 while nonunion workers were paid 28 percent less per week, $691.
Some 60 million workers say they would join a union if they had the opportunity. But when workers try to form unions through the flawed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) process, employers routinely respond with threats, intimidation, firings and harassment.
Of the 311,000 new workers who joined unions in 2007, the latest year for which such figures are available, only 70,000 workers were able to form a union through the NLRB process. Today, most workers who form new unions do so after their employer has agreed to recognize their union through a majority sign-up process—a major provision of the Employee Free Choice Act.
The Employee Free Choice Act would restore the freedom of workers to form unions and bargain for a better life. While some 78 percent of the public support the legislation, Big Business is waging a multimillion-dollar disinformation campaign against the bill.
Union growth was broadly shared across demographic lines and occupations. Growth was strongest in the public sector, among Hispanics, and in Western states.
Some highlights from the 2008 data are:
--Government workers were nearly five times more likely to belong to a union than were private sector employees.
--Workers in education, training, and library occupations had the highest unionization rate at 38.7 percent.
--Black workers were more likely to be union members than were white, Asian, or Hispanic workers.
--Among states, New York had the highest union membership rate (24.9 percent) and North Carolina had the lowest rate (3.5 percent).
The union membership rate for public sector workers (36.8 percent) was substantially higher than the rate for private industry workers (7.6 percent). The union membership rate was higher for men (13.4 percent) than
for women (11.4 percent) in 2008. Black men had the highest union membership rate (15.9 percent), while Asian men had the lowest rate (9.6 percent).
Mike Hall writes for the AFL-CIO news site, http://blog.aflcio.org, where a version of this article originally appeared.
For more information
View the entire BLS report at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm
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In 2008, union membership grew by 428,000, increasing the percentage of union members in the workforce to 12.4 percent, up from 12.1 percent in 2007. Overall, 16.1 million workers carry union cards.
Union representation in Minnesota stayed the same from 2007 to 2008, standing at 17 percent of the workforce. Minnesota ranked 13th among the states in the percentage of workers represented by unions. Here are the figures for surrounding states: Wisconsin, 16 percent; Iowa, 13 percent; South Dakota, 6.4 percent; and North Dakota, 8.2 percent.
The BLS survey also reports on the union advantage workers receive on payday. In 2008, full-time union workers earned a median weekly salary of $886 while nonunion workers were paid 28 percent less per week, $691.
Some 60 million workers say they would join a union if they had the opportunity. But when workers try to form unions through the flawed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) process, employers routinely respond with threats, intimidation, firings and harassment.
Of the 311,000 new workers who joined unions in 2007, the latest year for which such figures are available, only 70,000 workers were able to form a union through the NLRB process. Today, most workers who form new unions do so after their employer has agreed to recognize their union through a majority sign-up process—a major provision of the Employee Free Choice Act.
The Employee Free Choice Act would restore the freedom of workers to form unions and bargain for a better life. While some 78 percent of the public support the legislation, Big Business is waging a multimillion-dollar disinformation campaign against the bill.
Union growth was broadly shared across demographic lines and occupations. Growth was strongest in the public sector, among Hispanics, and in Western states.
Some highlights from the 2008 data are:
–Government workers were nearly five times more likely to belong to a union than were private sector employees.
–Workers in education, training, and library occupations had the highest unionization rate at 38.7 percent.
–Black workers were more likely to be union members than were white, Asian, or Hispanic workers.
–Among states, New York had the highest union membership rate (24.9 percent) and North Carolina had the lowest rate (3.5 percent).
The union membership rate for public sector workers (36.8 percent) was substantially higher than the rate for private industry workers (7.6 percent). The union membership rate was higher for men (13.4 percent) than
for women (11.4 percent) in 2008. Black men had the highest union membership rate (15.9 percent), while Asian men had the lowest rate (9.6 percent).
Mike Hall writes for the AFL-CIO news site, http://blog.aflcio.org, where a version of this article originally appeared.
For more information
View the entire BLS report at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm