Union membership drops to 12 percent, the lowest yet

Union membership drops to 12 percent, the lowest yet

WASHINGTON The number of wage and salary workers who were union members dropped to 12 percent of the work force last year.

That's the lowest percentage since the government started tracking that number over two decades ago.

The percentage of workers in a union was 20-point-one in 1983. More than a third of American workers were union members in the mid-1950s.

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.

Supporters say the law is more fair to workers because employers can't mount a campaign to prevent formation of a union. Opponents say it deprives workers of the right to vote privately on their union preferences, and can lead to union intimidation of workers.

(AP) - The number of wage and salary workers who were unionmembers dropped to 12 percent of the work force last year, the lowestpercentage since the government started tracking that number more than twodecades ago.

The number of workers in a union was 20.1 percent in 1983, when Bureau of Labor Statistics first provided such comparable numbers, and that number has been declining steadily. More than a third of American workers, about 35 percent, were union members in the mid-1950s.

In Michigan, union membership dropped from 20.5 percent of the work force in

2005 to 19.6 percent last year, according to the report.

- The number of wage and salary workers who were union membersdropped to 12 percent of the work force last year, the lowest percentagesince the government started tracking that number over two decades ago.The number of workers in a union was 20.1 percent in 1983, when Bureau ofLabor Statistics first provided such comparable numbers, and that number hasbeen declining steadily. More than a third of American workers, about 35percent, were union members in the mid-1950s.

The continuing decline in union membership, documented in the BLS report released Thursday, comes as organized labor is pushing for legislation in the Democratic-controlled Congress making it easier for workers to form unions. That proposal, called the Employee Free Choice Act, would let workers form unions more readily by simply signing a card or petition, impose stronger penalties on employers who violate labor laws, and allow for arbitration to settle first contract disputes.

Advocates of the legislation say they doubt that it will get signed into law by President Bush, but that they think passage in Congress would make eventual signing of the law more likely.

Supporters say the law is more fair to workers because employers can't mount a campaign to prevent formation of a union. Opponents say it deprives workers of the right to vote privately on their union preferences, and can lead to union intimidation of workers.

The union membership rate for government workers, 36.2 percent, was substantially higher than for private industry workers, 7.4 percent.

-- "If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed,if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly,you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival.There may even be a worse case;you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory,because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."

---Winston Churchill