 Unions Lost Members in 2009, as Overall Employment Fell (click title to entry - thank you) |
| January 22, 2010 (Union Byte) By Ben Zipperer The collapse of the housing bubble and corresponding decrease in private consumption and investment partially reversed small but significant membership gains by the labor movement over 2007 and 2008. Union membership fell in line with the decline in overall employment in 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ annual union membership report released today. The unionized share of the U.S. workforce dipped to 12.3 percent last year from 12.4 percent in 2008. For the first time ever, union members in the public sector outnumbered those in the private sector. While the recession eliminated jobs across the private sector, employment fell most rapidly in the relatively unionized construction and manufacturing industries, placing downward pressure on the overall unionization rate.... When the housing bubble popped it took along with it union jobs. The construction job market was saturated with workers and remains that way. Cheap labor is everywhere and construction unions are working harder than they ever have to bring down the cost of hiring union workers. Most of these workers have families to support and had the rug pulled out from under them by George Walker Bush and the majority Republicans. Why is it there always seems to be 'method' to the madness of Wall Street debacles? Why is that? Mismanagement caused this disaster and the morality of it all while it was occurring during the years previous to 2007 never was a concern. Never once. I wonder why? OUR MISSION: (click here) Eliminate the adversarial culture of workers' compensation claim administration; improve the delivery of wage-replacement benefits and the quality of medical care to injured union members; return injured workers to their pre-injury job quickly; reduce the costs of insurance for union contractors thereby increasing their competitiveness. Through the 1970s and ‘80s, labor and management were unable locally or nationally to reform the workers’ compensation system, resulting in many years of conflict in state legislatures and courts, and rising costs. In 1995, following a model used in several other states, Minnesota passed legislation allowing for an alternative workers’ compensation system developed through collective bargaining. In 1996, Wilson-McShane Corporation was hired by a labor-management coalition to develop and administer the Union Construction Workers’ Compensation Program.... |
