US Union Jobs 10-16-24

Union Membership peaked in 1955 at 35.7% has continued to decline and now stands at 10%.  

1983      20.1%

1984      18.8%

1985      18.0%

1986      17.5%

1987      17.0%

1988      16.8%

1989      16.4%

1990      16.0%

1991      16.0%

1992      15.7%

1993      15.7%

1994      15.5%

1995      14.9%

1996      14.5%

1997      14.1%

1998      13.9%

1999      13.9%

2000      13.4%

2001      13.3%

2002      13.3%

2003      12.9%

2004      12.5%

2005      12.5%

2006      12.0%

2007      12.4%

2008      12.5%

2009      12.3%

2010      11.9%

2011      11.8%

2012      11.3%

2013      11.3%

2014      11.1%

2015      11.1%

2016      10.7%

2017      10.7%

2018      10.5%

2019      10.3%

2020      10.8%

2021      10.3%

2022      10.1%

2023      10.0%

https://www.statista.com/statistics/195349/union-membership-rate-of-employees-in-the-us-since-2000/

Right-to-work laws allow workers to choose whether or not to join a labor union, and they cannot be forced to join as a condition of employment. 

26 States have Right to Work Laws: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Right to Work Laws began to be passed by States in 1944. These States allow employees to refuse to join a Union and pay Union Dues.

US Union Membership peaked in 1955 at 35.7% and declined to 10% in 2023. Most of these are Government Employees and Utility Employees. CWA Communication Workers of America membership is 700,000.

The National Education Association is far and away the largest, with over three million members.

The 2^nd largest union is the Service Employees International Union, with just about two million members.

The number of non-union Construction Workers has increased from 60.5% in 1973 to 89.3% in 2023.

Comments

Union strikes drove US inflation and lowered productivity. Right to Work States lowered Unionization.  NAFTA was a good excuse for US companies to send their auto parts manufacturing to Mexico and close their Unionized Plants. Unions typically try to propagandize its members to develop an antagonistic relationship against management to justify its existence. Unions were led by Marxists, then transferred to the Mafia and then handed back to the Marxists.

My first Union Job was at Granite City Steel. I worked a summer job in 1962 and1963. I was appalled when the Shop Seward walked in one night and knocked over all the stacked steel with the crane, because he expected a slow-down. I predicted their demise. This reinforced my opinion that unions in manufacturing companies had to go. They were anti-productivity.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader