UAW Membership Swells to Highest Level Since 2008

The United Automobile Workers membership has grown to 400,000 people. This is the largest the union has been since 2008. UAW’s members include more than just auto workers. The union has successfully recruited members from higher education institutions, such as teaching assistants and graduate students at a number of universities, casino workers, and other non-traditional…
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Unionization isn’t Dead: How Unions Can Remain Relevant Despite Trend of States Becoming Right-to-Work

Wisconsin recently became the 25th state to go right-to-work. Now exactly half of the states in the country allow employees to opt-out of paying union dues even though the union has an obligation to represent everyone in their workplace. As you can imagine, unionization rates in right-to-work states are far below rates in compulsory unionism…
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Collective Bargaining: Short Term Wage Increase Equals Long Term Wage Decrease

Unions do more than raise labor costs of employers with whom they negotiate. They also reduce wages and job growth in states where they are most prevalent. That’s the conclusion of a new monograph published by the Washington, D.C. based Competitive Enterprise Institute titled “The Unintended Consequences of Collective Bargaining.” The authors, economist Lowell Gallaway…
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Private Sector, Male Dominated Unions Out, Public Sector, Female Dominated Unions In

The typical union worker now is more likely to be an educator, office worker, or food or service industry employee rather than a construction worker, autoworker, or electrical mechanic. Until recently, the unionization rate was far higher in the private sector than in the public sector. “The basic structure of the labor union movement has…
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Unionization Rate Increases, Decreases, and Stays the Same

According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percent of American workers belonging to labor unions in 2013 was the same as in 2012 – 11.3%. Pretty amazing that the number remained steady considering all the people in the workforce. By peeling back the numbers, we get a better look at what is…
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