02-03-2008, 05:01 PM
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Contributor
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Benign ravine of knowledge
Posts: 83
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First time in 25+ years union membership increased
A negligible change, but it's something to look favorably upon.
Quote:
By Ben Zipperer and John Schmitt
For the first time in the past quarter of a century, in 2007 U.S. unions increased their share of membership among workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) annual union membership report released today. Unions added about 310,000 members last year, raising the unionized share of the workforce to 12.1 percent from 12.0 percent in 2006.
The increase is small, and may well reflect statistical variation rather than an actual increase in the union membership share, but the uptick is striking because it is the first time since the BLS began collecting annual union membership rates in 1983 that the union share has increased.
The small national rise in union membership rates reflected a large increase in union membership in California, partially offset by substantial declines in the Midwest.
Among women, union membership rose from 10.9 percent of women workers in 2006 to 11.1 percent last year. Rates for men remained unchanged at 13.0 percent. This modest narrowing of the gender gap in union membership was primarily driven by gains among white women, whose unionization rate increased from 10.5 percent to 10.8 percent in 2007. African-American men saw their membership rate grow from 15.6 percent to 15.8 percent, but rates for black women fell to 13.0 percent in 2007 from 13.7 percent in 2006.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/us...rssnyt&emc=rss
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