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Date: Fri, 4 Mar 1994 20:28:20 -0800
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Subject: Unionism on the Rise! Unions boost
/* Written 5:22 pm Feb 28, 1994 by [EMAIL PROTECTED] in
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/* ---------- "Unionism on the Rise! Unions boost " ---------- */
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Harel Barzilai)
Subject: Unionism on the Rise! Unions boost earnings edge.
Unionists boost earnings edge:
[Via misc.activism.progressive from LaborNet]
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[EMAIL PROTECTED] Labor News & Notes 9:12 am Feb 24, 1994
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Press Associates, Inc. (PAI) -- 2/21/94
Unionists boost earnings edge:
UNION MEMBERSHIP RISES TO 16.6 MILLION,
BREAKING 14-YEAR DOWNWARD SLIDE--BLS
By Robert B. Cooney
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)--Union membership rose to 16.6 million in
1993 from 16.4 million a year earlier, breaking a 14-year
downward slide, reported the U.S. Department of Labor.
The AFL-CIO welcomed the news, saying the net gain of
208,000 is particularly encouraging because the gains occurred
largely during a recessionary period.
"With the economy now beginning to pick up, we can expect
the job losses that have afflicted unionized workers will abate,"
commented Rudy Oswald, the federation's chief economist.
The union workers increased their advantage in weekly
earnings to 35 percent over non-union workers, according to the
department's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Among full-time wage
and salary workers, BLS said, union members had median earnings
of $575 per week in 1993, compared with a median of $426 for
workers not in unions, a union edge of $149 per week. The median
is the mid-point, with half the workers above and half below.
Oswald noted that much of the growth in union membership
came in the public sector, from 6.6 million members in 1992 to 7
million last year. He said the gain more than offset the member-
ship decline in the manufacturing sector, where the loss of
370,000 factory jobs displaced union workers.
"Public employees are just like private-sector employees--
they perform much the same jobs in their communities," Oswald
said. "The only difference is their employers don't mount
vicious anti-union campaigns to stop them from organizing."
The government report observed that the proportion of all
employees who were union members remained at 15.8 percent in
1993, as employment rose at about the same rate as membership
over the year.
However, the report said that, in addition to the 16.6
million union members in 1993, there were 2.0 million workers who
were represented at their workplace by a union, though not union
members themselves. More than half the workers who were not
union but were represented by a union, worked in government.
Counting them would lift the union total to 17.6 million.
On characteristic of union members, the BLS report said
slightly less than three-fifths of union members (9.6 million)
were in private industry, where they made up 11.2 percent of
employment. The remaining union members, at 7.0 million, were in
federal, state and local government, where they made up 37.7
percent of employment.
In private industry, manufacturing had the largest number of
union members (3.6 million), followed by transportation and
public utilities (1.9 million), services (1.5 million), wholesale
and retail trade (1.4 million), and construction (900,000). The
remaining major private industry groups each had fewer than
150,000 union members.
Among private industry groups, said the report, transporta-
tion and public utilities had the highest union proportion at 30
percent. Other major groups with union membership above the
private industry average were construction (20 percent),
manufacturing (19 percent), and mining (16 percent). The report
said the remaining private industry groups had unionization rates
ranging from 2 to 6 percent. Despite relatively low unionization
rates, trade and services combined employed 3 of every 10 members
in private industry.
BLS said the highest proportions of union membership among
the major occupational groups, about 1 in 4, were found in the
precision production, craft, and repair workers group (including
mechanics, electricians, and similar skilled trades workers) and
in the operators, fabricators, and laborers group (including
machine and vehicle operators, assemblers, cleaners, and
helpers).
In contrast, the report said, union membership proportions
were about 1 in 20 in the farming, forestry, and fishing
occupations and 1 in 10 in the technical, sales, and administra-
tive support workers group.
The report showed the proportion of union membership was
higher among men (18 percent) than women (13 percent). It was
higher among blacks (21 percent) than Hispanics or whites (both
at 15 percent). Within these major groups, black males had the
highest union membership proportion (23 percent), while white
females had the lowest (12 percent). Workers aged 35 to 64 had a
21 percent unionization rate, higher than either younger or older
workers.
The report said 18 percent of full-time workers were union
members, compared with 7 percent of part-timers.
Reprinted from 2/21/94 Press Associates, Inc.
806 15th St., NW, ste.632
Washington, D. C. 20005
202/638-0444
