The DOL just released its union membership numbers for 2009. Private sector membership dropped about 5% – from 7.6% to 7.2%.
Hilda Solis, the Secretary of Unions Labor, made sure to point out the (wildly inaccurate) statistic that union members make $198 per week more than non-union employees and also gave a shout out to the EFCA, noting:
…these numbers show a need for Congress to pass legislation to level the playing field to enable more American workers to access the benefits of union membership. This report makes clear why the administration supports the Employee Free Choice Act.
Massachusetts voters appear to have taken care of any Congressional field-leveling for 2010, but I think Solis makes clear that the agencies are certainly ready to do whatever they can to pay back their friends in organized labor.
I think one major reason for this steep decline is that unions spent most of 2009 waiting for an expected payoff in the form of EFCA. They basically took the year off.
2010 will most likely see unions return to the tried and true, old-fashioned method to increase their rolls; through lies, emotional manipulation, and deceit.
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