Posts tagged union rate
Here’s how much money Shawn Fain, other UAW leaders made in 2025
May 15, 2026 // April Verrett, president of the Service Employees International Union, made $322,045. Sean O'Brien, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, made $443,539. Fain's compensation for the year was the highest of his tenure by about two thousand dollars. In 2023, filings show Fain made $228,872. In 2024, Fain was paid $274,407.
Union membership rate 10.0 percent in 2025
April 26, 2026 // The union membership rate of public-sector (government) workers, 32.9 percent in 2025, continued to be more than five times higher than the rate of private-sector workers. The public-sector union membership rate increased by 0.7 percentage point over the year. The union membership rate continued to be highest in local government, which employs many workers in heavily unionized occupations. The union membership rate in the private sector (5.9 percent across all industries) was unchanged over the year. Industries with some of the highest unionization rates in 2025 included transportation and utilities, 14.3 percent, and construction, 11.1 percent. Among the lowest unionization rates were financial activities, 1.5 percent, professional and business services, 2.1 percent, and leisure and hospitality (which includes food services and drinking places), 3.0 percent.
Opinion– Editorial Board: Why the Republican-union alliance never works
April 22, 2026 // "The new acting secretary, Keith Sonderling, is a more conventional Republican choice for the job. Respected by conservatives, he would sail through the Senate confirmation process if nominated. He has already been competently running the department as deputy secretary, as it has advanced deregulation and protected independent contractor status for 11.9 million workers"
How CA state worker unions have fared since landmark SCOTUS decision reshaped membership
March 17, 2026 // According to eight years of data obtained from the State Controller’s Office on the number of dues-paying state workers, some unions have slowly bled members since the Janus decision. For other bargaining units, the membership level has dropped 20% over that period. Labor groups representing peace officers and prison staff, however, hardly saw a change pre- and post-Janus. And still other units have increased the percentage of workers who pay monthly membership dues, the data revealed. Nearly 10 years before the Janus decision, the public’s approval of unions hit a historic low. In 2009, Americans’ approval ratings dipped below 50% for the first and only time since the public opinion polling company Gallup began assessing ratings of labor unions in 1936. In the years since, the public’s opinion of labor unions has improved substantially. Last year, 68% of Americans reported approval of unions.
Modeling the Impact of Sectoral Bargaining for U.S. Workers
March 5, 2026 // New statistical modeling suggests that sectoral bargaining could more than double collective bargaining coverage in the United States and generate big gains in union density.
Opinion: Workers say ‘I like unions, I just don’t like my union’ — here’s what they’re discovering
February 28, 2026 // "I like unions. I just don’t like my union." Time and time again, I hear this sentiment from employees nationwide. Most will express frustration with their union officials, who’ve disappointed or even mistreated them and other members. Some tell me how they tried and failed to improve their own union from within. They imagine there’s a better union out there — one where union officials actively improve the workplace and help employees achieve some measure of personal freedom.
Illinois at near record-low union membership in 2025
February 23, 2026 // Just 13.1% of workers in Illinois were union members in 2025. Thousands of government workers have rejected union membership. Union membership in Illinois was at a near-record low in 2025, according to a release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Feb. 18.
Union Membership Stagnated in 2025 (report from Center for Economic and Policy Research)
January 28, 2026 // The share of US employees who are union members and the share who are covered by a union contract have both declined substantially over the past four decades (Figure 1). In 1983, 20.1 percent of workers were union members, and 23.3 percent were covered by a union contract. By 2010, union membership and coverage had fallen to 11.9 percent and 13.1 percent, respectively. In recent years, both measures reached historic lows. Membership declined to 9.9 percent in 2024 before ticking up to 10.0 percent in 2025, while coverage fell to 11.1 percent in 2024 and edged up to 11.2 percent in 2025. Throughout the entire period, the persistent gap between coverage and membership reflects the share of workers who benefit from union contracts without being union members.
Get on the Job and Organize with Inside Organizer School
November 23, 2025 // On November 6, a panel of labor organizers local to the Twin Cities gathered with the IOS at the East Side Freedom Library in St. Paul, Minn. The conversation centered on Brisack’s book, Get on the Job and Organize: Standing up for a Better Workplace and a Better World, which was released in April. Packed with labor history, the book is about Brisack’s experience salting at Starbucks, but also about their experience as an external organizer for union campaigns at Nissan and Tesla. The conversation was not limited to salting. During the event, panelists connected wisdom from the book to their own experiences organizing different industries in Minnesota, and shared tips and stories with audience members about organizing in general.
WATCH: Questions about solvency, union membership remain regarding WA Cares
November 16, 2025 // Opponents of WA Cares argue that the program is not primarily designed to help all Washingtonians, but rather to benefit unions like SEIU 775, which advocates for more taxpayer-funded caregivers, particularly regarding the possibility of family caregivers being required to pay some of their income to a union. “We still don't have clear guidance on whether or not family members are going to be allowed to opt out of union representation,” said Elizabeth New, director of the Center for Health Care and the Center for Worker Rights at the free-market Washington Policy Center think tank. “They say that they will be. But I've been waiting for it for a couple of years now, and I keep asking at every opportunity.”