Unions Are Laboring

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the latest data on union membership yesterday. 

What caught my eye is the fact that public sector union membership exceeds union membership in the private sector.

There are 7.3 million public sector union members compared to only 7.0 million union members in the private sector.

This chart from The Wall Street Journal shows the numbers of union workers (both private and public sector) from 1973-2012.

11.3% of all American workers are union members.  In 1983, union membership was 20.1% overall.

Today only 6.6% of workers in the private sector are members of a union compared to 35.9% of public sector workers.

Other factoids about union membership that I found interesting in reviewing the BLS data.

• Local government workers have the highest union membership of any of the public sector employees-41.7%.  29.9% of federal government workers are unionized and 31.3% of state employees.
• Education, training and library occupations have the highest union membership-35.4% of any occupation categoy.  Compare that to union membership in manufacturing (9.6%) or mining (7.2%) that traditionally were considered heavily unionized industries.  You begin to see the significance of the teacher's unions today when you consider this data.
• Transportation and utilities  (20.6%) and construction (13.2%) are the private sector industries with the highest unionization rates. Agriculture (1.4%) has the lowest.
• Since 2008, union membership has decreased by 11% overall.  This compares to an total loss of employment of 1.4% workers for the U.S. at large.  Therefore, unions are losing members at a faster rate than jobs have been lost.  I thought one of the purposes of unions was to protect the employment of their members?  I guess when you have a poor economy that does not apply.
• This effect is even more dramatic in the private sector.  Union members are down 15% compared to a decrease in private sector workers of 1%.  Public sector union membership has held up better but it is still down 4% since 2008.  However, this is largely a factor of a 6.4% decrease in public sector workers.  It is probably no surprise that the public sector unions have fared better in this regard as they are not subject to the same competitive pressures the private sector is under.
• New York has the highest percentage of union workers (23.2%). North Carolina has the lowest percentage (2.9%).
• About half of the 14.4 million union members in the U.S. live in just seven states (California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey and Ohio.  Is it any surprise that all of these states were carried by Barack Obama?

What do I conclude from all of this?

Unions are laboring.  The union movement has lost momentum and is weakening.  What is interesting is that unions have taken their biggest hits since President Obama took office.  

Private sector union membership has been declining over the last 30 years but it has accelerated since 2008 when the economy turned sour.  

Public sector union membership generally saw a steady increase since 1980 but has now declined for four consecutive years.

Union influence has waned.  Who would have thought a few years ago that Wisconsin would severely limit the power of public sector unions and that Indiana and Michigan would become right-to-work states?  Ohio may be the next significant state in which right to work becomes an issue.  The actions of Indiana and Michigan may put pressure on Ohio to act for competitive reasons. 

Underlying all of this is the simple fact that a bad economy is bad for everyone-including unions.  If you do not have a growing economy and the need for more workers, the President can't do much for you and your union.  The same goes for public sector union members.  If a growing economy is not producing growing tax revenues, it is only a matter of time before there are lower union dues as well.

Too often the unions have tended to look at everything as a zero sum game.  They think everything is "win-lose".   They need to start looking for "win-win" solutions as does everybody else in the country.

President Kennedy said it best 50 years ago,

"A rising tide lifts all boats."

Of course, Warren Buffett provided a converse view that is worth considering, 

"Only when the tide goes out do you discover who has been swimming naked."

It seems to me that too many unions have been swimming naked over the last 30 years.  Much of their focus and money has been spent on political influence rather than the individual welfare of their members.  That welfare begins with insuring that their employers and their industries can grow and prosper.  In most cases union members are not getting a fair return on their union dues because a large portion of dues either go to pay the salaries of the union bosses or end up in the coffers of the Democratic party.  

Let's face it, there are very few people who want to come out of the water bare naked.  Especially when  its daylight.  It is daylight and the sun does not appear to be setting anytime.  The unions better make sure that their swimming trunks are firmly in place as the tide continues to go out.  Or they need to start putting more effort in assisting in getting that rising tide to help everyone.