When given the choice to join a union or not, most, but not all, choose not to. Even some right to work states have seen an in crease in union membership. This all goes to show that unions are still relevant in our society. But, government should never coerce people into joining a union as a precondition of putting bread on the table for their children. That is fascism. It is un American.
Big Labor’s Membership Pains
The unionized share of the workforce fell again in 2016.
Jan. 29, 2017 7:11 p.m. ET
United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams speaks to delegates at the UAW Special Convention on Collective Bargaining at Cobo Center March 25, 2015 in Detroit, Michigan. Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
President Barack Obama tried but couldn’t stop the decline in union membership, according to the new annual report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unionized share of the U.S. workforce fell to 10.7% last year from 11.1% in 2015 as overall membership declined by 240,000. A mere 6.4% of private workers belong to a union, while membership among state (29.6%) and local government (40.3%) workers hit a 15-year low.
One big surprise is that even as manufacturing employment grew 236,000, union membership fell 74,000. In part this reflects that manufacturers are expanding in right-to-work states where workers can choose whether to join a union. Since Michigan’s right-to-work law took effect in 2013, the share of unionized workers has fallen 2.2-percentage points. Union membership has fallen by 40% or about 136,000 workers in Wisconsin since public unions lost their monopoly bargaining power in 2011.
Last year union membership declined by about 290,000 in the 25 states that had right-to-work laws (to 6.5% from 7.1%) while increasing by roughly 50,000 in the other half. Union membership increased in nearly 60% of states that don’t give workers a choice, but in only a quarter of the right-to-work states. Kentucky and West Virginia joined the right-to-work ranks within the last year and Missouri may soon follow.
If workers want a union to represent them, then go right ahead. The important point is that workers have the right to join or not, and more often than not these days they choose not to.
Big Labor’s Membership Pains
The unionized share of the workforce fell again in 2016.
Jan. 29, 2017 7:11 p.m. ET
United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams speaks to delegates at the UAW Special Convention on Collective Bargaining at Cobo Center March 25, 2015 in Detroit, Michigan. Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
President Barack Obama tried but couldn’t stop the decline in union membership, according to the new annual report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unionized share of the U.S. workforce fell to 10.7% last year from 11.1% in 2015 as overall membership declined by 240,000. A mere 6.4% of private workers belong to a union, while membership among state (29.6%) and local government (40.3%) workers hit a 15-year low.
One big surprise is that even as manufacturing employment grew 236,000, union membership fell 74,000. In part this reflects that manufacturers are expanding in right-to-work states where workers can choose whether to join a union. Since Michigan’s right-to-work law took effect in 2013, the share of unionized workers has fallen 2.2-percentage points. Union membership has fallen by 40% or about 136,000 workers in Wisconsin since public unions lost their monopoly bargaining power in 2011.
Last year union membership declined by about 290,000 in the 25 states that had right-to-work laws (to 6.5% from 7.1%) while increasing by roughly 50,000 in the other half. Union membership increased in nearly 60% of states that don’t give workers a choice, but in only a quarter of the right-to-work states. Kentucky and West Virginia joined the right-to-work ranks within the last year and Missouri may soon follow.
If workers want a union to represent them, then go right ahead. The important point is that workers have the right to join or not, and more often than not these days they choose not to.
