American workers’ attitudes toward unions have improved strikingly since 2009. Although only 6.6% of private sector workers belonged to a union in 2014 (down from 7.2% in 2009), according to a Gallup poll released on August 17, 2015, 58% of Americans now “approve” of labor unions, an increase of 10 percentage points since 2009. The
Unionization Rate
Unions Winning More Elections, but Facing Diminishing Returns
By Howard M. Bloom & Philip B. Rosen on
Posted in Unions and Organizing
According to a Bloomberg BNA report, unions won more representation elections, with a higher win rate, in initial NLRB-monitored representation elections in the first half of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013, but the number of newly organized employees fell drastically, and unions have been losing decertification elections more often.
Unions won 8.6…
AFL-CIO Membership Stats Mostly Flat or Declining
By Howard M. Bloom & Philip B. Rosen on
Posted in Unions and Organizing
The AFL-CIO’s membership numbers were stagnant in 2013, despite the fact the union added more than one million members. According to a “Membership Report” prepared by AFL-CIO, almost all of that increase was attributable to the 2013 re-affiliation of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union with the AFL-CIO. [The UFCW left the AFL-CIO in…
Labor Union Membership Not Immune to Job Losses
By Howard M. Bloom & Thomas V. Walsh on
Posted in Unions and Organizing
Many of the nation’s largest unions lost significant membership in 2012, according to annual financial disclosure reports filed with the U.S. Department of Labor, Bloomberg/BNA’s Daily Labor Report has reported. The 2012 reports show the following:
Membership Losses Among Ten Largest U.S. Unions
|
Union |
Membership Decline |
Change |
|
National Education Association (NEA) |
99,175 to 3.1 million |
Would You Believe It’s Always Sunny in Unionland?
By Philip B. Rosen & Richard I. Greenberg on
Posted in DOL
Wrestling with some dismal data on the waning strength of America’s organized labor, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis tried to make the best of it. She said in her January 21st press release that the data showed the need for workers to unionize.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on January 21 that the…