The States With The Strongest and Weakest Unions

The size of American labor unions has fallen sharply in the last decade. Much of this has to do with the erosion of the US manufacturing base. The single best example of this is the decline of The Big Three automakers which ended with the bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler. The UAW gave up tens of thousands of well-paid  jobs in exchange for stock in the car companies among other things. The faltering automotive industry affected car parts suppliers, many of which were unionized, and thousands of jobs were lost at these companies as well.

As a result, the number of workers represented by unions fell from 9% to 6.9% between 2000 and 2010.

The huge hole in the receipts of federal, state, and municipal governments brought on by the recession is likely to cause a sharp decline in the membership of public sector unions. The battle for organized labor strength has already begun in Wisconsin and Idaho and will be part of the debate in most state legislatures over the next few weeks. Governments seek several concessions, the most drastic of which may be the abolition of collective bargaining rights. It is impossible to make a case that states and cities which are running large deficits will not cut jobs. The Republican majority in many state legislatures and governors’ offices makes this more likely as recently elected candidates make good on promises to cut spending.

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The state and municipal finance problem is made worse by underfunded pensions with deficits that range into the tens of billions of dollars. States and cities also face challenges as they attempt to raise money from skeptical capital markets which may drive municipal bond yields to unaffordable levels, further burdening local government balance sheets. There have been discussions in Congress about whether states have the right to go bankrupt. This seems to have only a remote chance of occurring, but it would irreparably damage the fate of public union members if it did. States may become effectively insolvent without a bankruptcy filing which will give local governments additional power to cut union workers and benefit plans.

Click Image to See Larger Chart of Union Members By State

The one conclusion that could fairly be drawn from 24/7 Wall St.’s Ten States With The Strongest And Weakest Unions is that public unions will face over the next two or three years the kind of erosion that private unions did in the last decade. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of public sector workers who are union members was 37.5% a decade ago and is more than 36.2% today. Local governments with low tax receipts will not be able to support current payrolls and benefits. The public worker unions will have to go to war to defend employee levels and health and pension benefits. The will of voters and legislators make it likely that the unions will lose a great deal of ground and lose it quickly.

The 24/7 Wall St analysis of public and private membership is based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Unionstats.com, and the U.S. Census Bureau. We examined total union membership rates among all workers in the fifty states and also union membership ratios in the public and private sectors. Union membership overall has dropped almost entirely because of private sector losses. Public sectors’ union employees, on the other hand, have held their own.

The portion of the work population who are members of unions will continue to decline, if current events are any indication.

Read on for The Ten States With the Weakest Unions

The Ten States With The Strongest Unions

10. Oregon
> Workers in Unions: 16.2%
> Unions Workers: 245,101 (17th most)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: 0.6%
> Government Workers: 251,834 (23rd least)
> Total Number of Workers: 1,515,070 (23rd least)

Oregon has the tenth-highest rate of union membership thanks in large part to union growth in the state over the past decade. The state underwent the 14th-greatest increase in overall union membership among all states between 2000 and 2010 with 4.6% growth.  Union membership in the public sector grew by 15.9% to a total of 51.7% in 2010, while membership for the private sector dropped 5.9% to 9.1%.

9. Rhode Island
> Workers in Unions: 16.4%
> Unions Workers: 74,854 (15th least)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: -9.9%
> Government Workers: 66,171 (5th least)
> Total Number of Workers: 455,608 (8th least)

Rhode Island has one of the smallest working populations in the country – less than a half million workers in total. The percentage of the state’s laborers in unions, however, is one of the largest. Unions are especially represented in the public sector. Nearly 64% of Rhode Island’s 66,000 public workers are members of labor organizations, the third-greatest percentage in the U.S.

Click Image to See Larger Chart of Private Sector Workers in Unions

8. Michigan
> Workers in Unions: 16.5%
> Unions Workers: 627,272 (7th most)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: -20.7%
> Government Workers: 541,558 (13th most)
> Total Number of Workers: 3,805,863 (8th most)

Michigan has such a relatively high percentage of workers in unions because of workers in the public sector, 48.9% of which are in unions, the 15th highest amount in the country.  It is primarily due to the 11.1% membership of private workers, however, the 5th highest rate.  The auto industry and its unions are the biggest contributor.  In 2000, 15.7% of the state’s private workforce were union members — the absolute highest amount in the U.S. Since then, the percentage of members in the private sector has dropped 41.2%

7. Connecticut
> Workers in Unions: 16.7%
> Unions Workers: 140,378 (16th most)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: 2.5%
> Government Workers: 230,602 (20th least)
> Total Number of Workers: 1,548,906 (24th least)

Like Rhode island, Connecticut’s strong union representation comes from the public sector. Despite having only the 31st-greatest amount of employees overall, the state has 148,000 public union workers, the fifteenth-highest rate in the country. These 148,000 workers account for nearly 65% of all of Connecticut government jobs. This percentage is the second-highest in the country, behind only New York. Democratic Governor Daniel Malloy recently indicated that he would be demanding $2 billion in union concessions over the next two years.

6. New Jersey
> Workers in Unions: 17.1%
> Unions Workers: 636,940 (6th most)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: -17.8%
> Government Workers: 604,347 (12th most)
> Total Number of Workers: 3,733,761 (10th most)

New Jersey is a major “union state,” with the sixth-greatest amount of union members in the workforce and the sixth-greatest percentage of union workers in the workforce.  The state ranks fifth-highest for percentage of union membership for public workers, with 59% of workers involved.  New Jersey also ranks ninth for percentage of union membership for private workers, with 9% of workers.  The state has lost 16.4% of its union members since 2000, however.  This is the 17th greatest decrease in the country.

5. California
> Workers in Unions: 17.5%
> Unions Workers: 2,431,276 (most)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: 9.4%
> Government Workers: 2,405,816 (most)
> Total Number of Workers: 13,891,632 (most)

With 13.9 million private and public sector employees, California has by far the largest workforce in the country. The state also has the most union members in the private and public sectors. California has just over 1 million private union workers and 1.4 million public union workers. In the last decade the state has lost nearly half a million employees, while increasing in net union members by 130,000. This gain is due to a substantial increase in public unions offsetting a slight decline in private union workers.

Click Image to See Larger Chart of Government Union Jobs By State

4. Washington
> Workers in Unions: 19.4%
> Unions Workers: 551,767 (8th most)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: 6.6%
> Government Workers: 535,691 (14th most)
> Total Number of Workers: 2,837,203 (14th most)

Washington ranks seventh for percentage of union membership for public workers, with 56.8%, and seventh for percentage of union membership for private workers, with 10.7%.  Washington also has the fifth-greatest rate of growth of union membership, at 17.2%, between 2000 and 2010.  Although union membership in the private sector dropped by 1.5% during this time period, membership in the public sector grew by 38.5%.  A total 80,919 workers joined labor organizations over this time period.

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3. Hawaii
> Workers in Unions: 21.8%
> Unions Workers: 111,344 (22nd least)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: -12.1%
> Government Workers: 103,330 (11th least)
> Total Number of Workers: 511,431 (9th least)

Hawaii has had the third-greatest declines in government union membership (-45.7%) in the last ten years. The state still has the 11th-highest union membership rate for public jobs in the country. The state’s private sector, however, has the largest proportion of union workers in the country, at 14.6% of all private jobs.

2. Alaska
> Workers in Unions: 22.9%
> Unions Workers: 67,624 (13th least)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: 4.6%
> Government Workers: 78,205 (8th least)
> Total Number of Workers: 295,063 (3rd least)

Alaska has the third-smallest population of employed people in the country, 295,063, but the second-highest rate of unionized workers, at 22.9%, or 67,624 workers.  Alaska has 55.4% of its public workers unionized, which is the ninth-highest rate in the country.  What helps elevate its overall standing even more, however, is the fact that 11.2% of its private workers are unionized, which is the third-highest rate in the country.

1. New York
> Workers in Unions: 24.2%
> Unions Workers: 1,958,725 (2nd most)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: -5.1%
> Government Workers: 1,503,358 (3rd most)
> Total Number of Workers: 8,077,936 (3rd most)

New York does not have the most union workers in the country, but the largest percentage of both its public and private workforce are members of labor organizations. The state has roughly 1.5 million workers in the public sector, and more than 1 million are union members. The 70% membership in public unions is nearly double the national average of 36.2%. Governor Andrew Cuomo is seeking  nearly $500 million in concessions from labor unions to narrow the state’s enormous budget gap.

Read on for The Ten States With the Weakest Unions

The Ten States With the Weakest Unions

10. Oklahoma
> Workers in Unions: 5.5%
> Unions Workers: 77,415 (28th least)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: -19.1%
> Government Workers: 280,928 (25th least)
> Total Number of Workers: 1,417,791 (22nd least)

Between 2000 and 2010, Oklahoma has seen public union membership decline 21.4%, the fourth-greatest decrease in the country.  The state now has the eighth-lowest rate, with only 13.2% of public workers members in labor organizations. This most likely comes in part from an overall loss of union workers, from 93,000 in 2000 to 73,000 in 2010.

9. Texas
> Workers in Unions: 5.4%
> Unions Workers: 545,357 (9th most)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: -6.9%
> Government Workers: 1,640,448 (2nd most)
> Total Number of Workers: 10,025,473 (2nd most)

Texas has the second-highest amount of employed workers in the country, with more than 10 million people, yet the state has one of the lowest rates of union membership. Of the state’s 1,640,000 public workers, 16.9% are in unions, the 11th-lowest rate in the country.  The state also has the tenth-lowest rate of private sector union membership, with only 3.2% of workers in unions.  The percent of unionized workers increased by 7.9% between 2000 and 2010, the ninth-greatest amount.

Click Image to See Larger Chart of Change of Government Jobs

8. Tennessee
> Workers in Unions: 4.7%
> Unions Workers: 115,456 (23rd least)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: -47.2%
> Government Workers: 393,175 (16th most)
> Total Number of Workers: 2,477,414 (19th most)

The total number of employees in Tennessee has increased by 90,000, but union membership has declined from 211,000 to 115,000, a decrease of 96,000. This decline, a 45% decrease over ten years, is by far the largest of any state. Most of this drop-off in union workers occurred in the private sector, which lost more than 90,000 union workers in ten years. Today, only 2.2% of private workers are in unions, the second-lowest rate in the country.

7. South Carolina
> Workers in Unions: 4.65%
> Unions Workers: 79,583 (19th least)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: +15%
> Government Workers: 316,140 (25th most)
> Total Number of Workers: 1,713,003 (25th most)

Of South Carolina’s 316,000 public employees, 41,000 are unionized, or 13.1%.  With regards to the state’s 1,397,000 private employees, just 38,000 are unionized, or 2.7%.  However, despite a small drop in overall employment between 2000 and 2010, -1.5%, union membership is on the rise in the state.  The percentage of both public and private workers who are union members increased by 15% during the aughts, the greatest rate increase in the country.

6. Virginia
> Workers in Unions: 4.62%
> Unions Workers: 160,630 (21st most)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: -17.9%
> Government Workers: 749,001 (6th most)
> Total Number of Workers: 3,473,021 (12th most)

The total number of workers in Virginia has increased 8.6% between 2000 and 2010 – the 12th-greatest increase in the country. Despite this, the state has has remained mostly stagnant in public sector union membership. Additionally, numbers have actually decreased substantially in the private sector. Only 2.9% of employees in private sector jobs are union members, the eighth-lowest ranking in this category. The state also has the seventh-smallest percentage of public union workers in the country.

5. Mississippi
> Workers in Unions: 4.5%
> Unions Workers: 46,250 (9th least)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: -25%
> Government Workers: 214,359 (17th least)
> Total Number of Workers: 1,037,372 (17th least)

Mississippi’s private worker population has a 3.7% union membership rate, the 15th-lowest in the country.  More surprising is the state’s union membership rate for public employees, which stands at only 7.4%.  This is the lowest rate in the country.  Mississippi underwent the second-greatest proportional decrease in employment from 2000 to 2010, with a drop of 7.4%.  In this time period, the percent of total workers who are in unions dropped an overall 25%

4. Louisiana
> Workers in Unions: 4.3%.
> Unions Workers: 75,612 (17th least)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: -39.4%
> Government Workers: 322,647 (24th most)
> Total Number of Workers: 1,742,418 (24th most)

Of Louisiana’s 1,742,000 workers, only 4.3%, or just under 76,000, are union members.  In the private sector, only 3.2% of employees are in unions, the 11th-lowest percentage in the country.  In the public sector, 9.3% of employees are in unions, the second lowest rate in the country.  While employment increased by 1.9% in Louisiana between 2000 and 2009, the amount of union members decreased by 38%.  This is also the second-lowest rate in the country.

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3. Arkansas
> Workers in Unions: 4.04%
> Unions Workers: 43,635 (7th least)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: -31%
> Government Workers: 185,164 (16th least)
> Total Number of Workers: 1,081,711 (18th least)

Arkansas has lost 25% of its public sector unionized jobs in the past ten years, the second-largest decrease in the country. The state now has less than 20,000 public union workers, the fifth-fewest across all states and the fourth-smallest as a percent of the total public workforce. Worse still, private unions have only a 2.7% membership rate.

Click Image to See Larger Chart of % of Workers That Are Union Members

2. Georgia
> Workers in Unions: 4.04%
> Unions Workers: 153,309 (23rd most)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: -36.5%
> Government Workers: 666,034 (9th most)
> Total Number of Workers: 3,792,128 (9th most)

Only 4% of Georgia’s working population are members of unions. The state has the tenth-largest working force, but only the 23rd-largest body of union workers. The state has the sixth-smallest percentage of its public workers in labor organizations, and the fourth-smallest percentage in private unions. Georgia has lost 73,000 union jobs in the past ten years, 63,000 of which are in the private sector.

1. North Carolina
> Workers in Unions: 3.2%
> Unions Workers: 116,692 (24th least)
> Change in Union Membership, 2000 – 2010: -11.1%
> Government Workers: 663,513 (10th most)
> Total Number of Workers: 3,685,868 (11th most)

North Carolina has the lowest rate of union membership in the country.  Only 117,000 workers out of 3,686,000 are in unions.  For public sector workers, 9.5% are union members, which is the third-lowest rate for public employees in the country.  When it comes to private sector workers, the rate of union members drops to 1.8% — the lowest among all 50 states.  North Carolina’s employment rate has improved by 8.3% from 2000 to 2010, however the percentage of working people who are union members has decreased by 11.1%.

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-Douglas A. McIntyre, Charles B. Stockdale, Michael B. Sauter