Posts tagged union membership
New Report Shows Large Drop in Union Membership Five Years After Janus Decision
June 16, 2023 // “There is a wide range of opinions about the impact of the Janus decision, with some claiming it would lead to large losses in membership and others saying it would have minimal effect or even rejuvenate organized labor,” said Jarrett Skorup, vice president for marketing and communications at the Mackinac Center and the author of the report. “This research aims to inform this debate. It presents more accurate and comprehensive data than anything out there currently being used to assess Janus’ impact.”
US union membership is at its lowest level since the Great Depression
May 19, 2023 // When it comes to their employees, employers are getting more for less these days. US wages have stagnated in recent years, and salary increases have not caught up with inflation. Meanwhile, US productivity grew 3.7 times as fast as pay—64.6% compared to 17.3%—between 1979 and 2021.
FEDERAL LAWSUIT AIMS TO SAFEGUARD PUBLIC EMPLOYEES’ ACCESS TO TRUTH ABOUT UNIONS
May 3, 2023 // Prohibiting the Freedom Foundation’s ability to access information about public employee orientation sessions is a violation of the organization’s First Amendment right to free speech. In denying the request, the defendants –LAUSD superintendent Alberto Carvalho, general counsel Navera Reed, and, district litigation research coordinator Rita Gail Turner, cited California code § 3556, a wide-ranging California law signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown on June 27, 2018. The signing date was no accident: June 27 was the same day the Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) that public employees cannot be compelled to join or pay dues to a union as a condition of employment.
PA labor unions push to expand power at hearing
April 28, 2023 // The hearing included a panel of four supporters, a mix of union leaders and members; there was just one citizen invited for the opposition panel. Rep. Jason Dawkins (D-Philadelphia), who opened the hearing, set the tone: “We were dead set serious when we talked about this committee becoming serious about these issues. We are no longer going to ignore the elephant in the room.” He added, “We deserve better, our workers deserve better, and our workers deserve the opportunity for fair wages and fair safety standards in our communities and our workplaces.” Later, Dawkins informed AFL-CIO Pennsylvania President, Angela Ferritto, that he is on her side, “One thing I can assure you …we will not have any anti-union bills in this committee as long as I am chairman.” Rep. Nick Pisciottano (D-Allegheny) also praised unions during the hearing, claiming that unions are an example of democracy because “every single union was certified by majority vote” of union members and “every single labor official is elected by the voters that they represent.”
When workers in Michigan had a choice, they left unions
April 17, 2023 // Although the state has seen a 20% increase in the number of jobs since 2012, union membership has declined by 26.4%. Some 143,000 members chose to leave their unions while they had the right. The state’s largest unions shed an additional 5,250 members last year, according to their Form LM-2 financial reports for 2021 and 2022. Freedom will come to an end for many workers. Employees at unionized workplaces will likely be forced again to pay union dues as a condition of employment. The American Federation of Teachers lost 15.3% of its Michigan members during the right-to-work era, the biggest percentage loss of any union in the state. Membership in the teachers union crashed from 20,063 to 16,994 between 2012 and 2022. AFSCME Council 25 had the second biggest percentage loss at 14.4%, losing 150 members.
United Auto Workers union membership rose 3% in 2022 to 383,000
April 5, 2023 // Membership in the United Auto Workers union rose 3% in 2022 to 383,000 as it works to organize workers in battery plants and other electric vehicle components. Last month, Shawn Fain won a closely contested race against incumbent Ray Curry for UAW president by fewer than 500 votes out of about 140,000 cast. Fain said last week the union was ready to go to war against "employers who refuse to give our members their fair share."
White House touts ‘significant results’ of task force after 80,000 feds opt to join a union
March 21, 2023 // Federal unions saw a roughly 20% increase in bargaining unit membership governmentwide, with close to 80,000 feds joining a union between September 2021 and September 2022, according to a March 17 update from the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment. The Biden administration credited the “significant results” to the work of the task force, a group that President Joe Biden created through an April 2021 executive order seeking to strengthen collective bargaining rights for federal employees. Following the initial executive order, the task force, led by Vice President Kamala Harris, laid out 70 recommendations to improve labor-management relations for the federal workforce. Similar to the first priority of the President’s Management Agenda (PMA), the task force said it aims to position the federal government as a model employer, including through worker empowerment.
Workers exert leverage in tight labor market: Strikes doubled in 2022
February 23, 2023 // About 224,000 total people walked off the job in 424 strikes, up from 279 strikes in 2021. Most of them were demanding better pay and healthcare. Fast food workers with the "Fight for $15" campaign and Starbucks baristas organized over 100 strikes. In one of the most memorable, a number of Starbucks workers at stores across the country refused to man the espresso machines on "Red Cup Day" — the start of the profitable holiday drink season for the company. But education workers put the biggest stamp on labor action. About 60% of the workers striking in 2022 were educators, meaning the spotlight continues to be on frontline sectors after healthcare workers drove most of the action 2021, during the height of the pandemic.
Mergers and Acquisitions: How the National Education Association’s Membership Numbers Keep Going Up
February 17, 2023 // To put this in its proper perspective, one in every five union members belongs to NEA — two of every five public-sector union members. After NEA delegates rejected a national merger with the American Federation of Teachers back in 1998, a handful of NEA state affiliates merged with their AFT counterparts. When that happens, both national unions count the other’s as new members.
Why labor’s surging popularity isn’t translating to union membership
January 25, 2023 // One legal catalyst for the decline in union membership was a 5-4 ruling by the Supreme Court in 2018, which said that unions could no longer force workers to pay dues. Since then, the Freedom Foundation, an anti-union group, says it’s helped 133,000 workers leave public-sector unions. Meanwhile, the public sector has lost workers amid a labor shortage. The unionization rate dropped in this area from 33.9% in 2018, to 33.1% in 2022, an all-time low.