Unions Press Congress to Delete Secret Ballot Elections as Their Membership Declines To 12% of Workforce

The number of wage and salary workers who were union members dropped to 12 percent of the workforce last year.  That's the lowest percentage since the government started tracking that number over two decades ago.  The union membership rate for government workers (36.2 percent) was substantially higher than for private industry workers (7.4 percent).  The union membership rate has steadily declined from 20.1 percent in 1983, the first year that comparable union data is available.  In 2006, 12.0 percent of employed wage and salary workers were union members, down from 12.5 percent a year earlier.  Workers in the public sector had a union membership rate nearly five times that of private sector employees.  Within the public sector, local government workers such as teachers, police officers, and fire fighters had the highest union membership rate, 41.9 percent.  The continuing decline in union membership comes as organized labor is pushing for legislation making it easier for workers to form unions.

The Employee Free Choice Act would let workers form unions more readily by simply signing a card or petition.  This action would deprive workers of the right to vote privately on their union preferences, and can lead to union intimidation of workers.

See related article “Employee Free Choice Act.”

If you have any questions regarding the Unions or any other human resources topic, please contact Jack Lipovac at (515) 221-1718 or lipovac@hr-onesource.com.