January 23, 2015
In 2014, (click here) the union membership rate--the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of unions--was 11.1 percent, down 0.2 percentage point from 2013, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions, at 14.6 million, was little different from 2013. In 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent, and there were 17.7 million union workers...
--Men had a higher union membership rate (11.7 percent) than women (10.5 percent) in 2014. (See table 1.)
--Black workers were more likely to be union members than were white, Asian, or Hispanic workers. (See table 1.)
--Median weekly earnings of nonunion workers ($763) were 79 percent of earnings for workers who were union members ($970). (The comparisons of earnings in this release are on a broad level and do not control for many factors that can be important in explaining earnings differences....)
Unions are the backbone of the USA middle class. There has been a deliberate methodology to break unions, other than employee votes, by using staffing agencies. This decision puts the best interest of labor back in the hands of the people and not CEOs.
August 28, 2015
...The NLRB said Thursday (click here) that a Silicon Valley recycling center was a "joint employer" along with the staffing agency that provided the center's workers. The ruling determined that companies using workers hired by another business, such as temp agencies, contractors or even fast-food franchisees, are still responsible for labor violations and could be required to bargain with unions representing those employees....
This decision by the NLRB also strengthens the USA economy as well as quality of life of Americans. The decision calls to the forefront the quality of life of the American working poor.
As American labor increases their income there will be less demand on the US Treasury in supplying health care and food stamps. The impact of this decision will be important to the USA.
Unions need to step up their recruitment efforts to return the middle class to the country.
Union memberships in the UK are different demographically. Unions are not solely a USA experience. The union member in the UK is more likely to an older employee.
1.
Trade Union Membership: Long term and recent trends Around 6.4 million
employees in the UK were trade union members in 2014. The level of
overall union members was broadly unchanged from 2013, with a non -
statistically significant reduction of only 40,000 over the year (a 0.6%
decline). Current membership levels are well below the peak of over 13
million in 1979.
The numbers of UK employees increased between 2013 and
2014. As a result, the proportion of employees who were trade union
members fell slightly to 25.0% in
2014, from 25.6% in 2013. This is the lowest rate of trade union
membership recorded between 1995 and 2014.Over this period, the
proportion of employees who were trade union members in the UK has
decreased 7.4 percentage points, from 32.4% in 1995.
Female employees are more likely to be a trade union member. The proportion of female employees who were in a trade union was around 28% in 2014, compared with 22% for male
employees.
A higher proportion of UK born employees were in a trade
union compared with non-UK born employees. About 26% of UK born
employees were in a trade union in 2014, compared with 18% for non-UK
born employees....
Interestingly enough, the UK identifies seven economic classes and not three as in the USA. Now, why do governments collect these statistics? Either the government is concerned for the people of the country or it isn't.
3 April 2013
Interestingly enough, the UK identifies seven economic classes and not three as in the USA. Now, why do governments collect these statistics? Either the government is concerned for the people of the country or it isn't.
3 April 2013
- Elite - the most privileged group in the UK, (click here) distinct from the other six classes through its wealth. This group has the highest levels of all three capitals
- Established middle class - the second wealthiest, scoring highly on all three capitals. The largest and most gregarious group, scoring second highest for cultural capital
- Technical middle class - a small, distinctive new class group which is prosperous but scores low for social and cultural capital. Distinguished by its social isolation and cultural apathy
- New affluent workers - a young class group which is socially and culturally active, with middling levels of economic capital
- Traditional working class - scores low on all forms of capital, but is not completely deprived. Its members have reasonably high house values, explained by this group having the oldest average age at 66
- Emergent service workers - a new, young, urban group which is relatively poor but has high social and cultural capital
- Precariat, or precarious proletariat - the poorest, most deprived class, scoring low for social and cultural capital...
