Union Ranks Up in ‘99, Led by California

In a sign that aggressive organizing efforts are starting to pay off, especially in California, U.S. labor unions gained more members last year than at any time in the last two decades.

By adding 265,000 workers nationwide, unions were able to keep pace with the rapidly expanding economy, which grew by 2 million jobs in 1999, according to numbers released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Significantly, the rate of private-sector unionization held steady at about 9.4%, breaking a free-fall that began in 1973, when one in four private-sector workers belonged to a union. The overall unionization rate also held steady at 13.9%

California led the nation, gaining 132,000 union members on top of the 87,000 added in 1998. In contrast, some states saw continuing declines, notably New Jersey, which lost 52,000 union members last year.

Labor unions, which have poured millions into high-profile organizing drives in recent years, were helped by two outside factors: The economy grew, which pulled thousands of new workers into unionized industries, and the flight of manufacturing jobs to low-wage countries, which was intense in the early 1990s, slowed.

The numbers were welcome news for the beleaguered U.S. labor movement, which has been trying mightily to stop its decline and regain relevancy in the changing economy.

But economists said it will be several years before anyone can declare 1999 a turning point.

“These numbers don’t show a resurgence,” said Henry Farber, a labor economist at Princeton University. “They show a stability, which in a sense is a victory. But to me, it’s really looking for the silver lining to say, ‘Hey, look at this. We didn’t do any worse this year than last year.’ ”

But labor leaders hailed the numbers as evidence of a comeback.

“We’re turning the corner,” said AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney, who has pushed unions to devote more resources to organizing since taking the helm of the 13-million-member federation four years ago. “Our challenge for the future is to remain focused and to broaden our efforts.”

High-profile organizing drives championed by Sweeney, including a multi-union effort at Los Angeles International Airport, have had mixed results. He also has encouraged member unions to devote at least 30% of their resources to organizing--a dramatic change from the recent past, when unions instead focused almost exclusively on serving existing members.

Sweeney and others have argued that unless labor rebuilds its strength in the private sector, it can do little to improve wages and benefits.

AFL-CIO Organizing Director Kirk Adams said the net gain of 265,000 members actually reflects a much larger organizing effort, and that AFL-CIO figures show 600,000 new workers joined unions last year.

Some union jobs were lost as manufacturers moved to low-wage countries, although that movement has slowed.

“The jobs going out the back door have lessened considerably,” Adams said. “There was a loss of 350,000 jobs last year, but only 120,000 were unionized.”

However, to show real growth, labor needs to do much more--adding 500,000 to 1 million new members a year to keep pace with the growing economy and to counter the attrition of union jobs.

Some economists, including Farber, are skeptical that labor can achieve that kind of growth, especially as the economy loses manufacturing jobs, where unions traditionally have been strong, and gains low-wage service jobs, where unions have struggled. And Latinos, who account for a growing share of the low-wage work force, are the least likely to be union members.

But those difficult areas are precisely where California’s labor growth has flourished, said Art Pulaski, secretary-treasurer of the California Federation of Labor.

“Particularly immigrant workers from Mexico and Central America,” he said. “That’s the strongest part of the work force for us.”

Of California’s new union members, 74,000 were home-care workers, mainly African American women and Latinas who organized following a 12-year effort.

The government numbers, which show overall U.S. union membership to be 16.5 million, are estimates based on the current population survey, which conducts a monthly survey of about 50,000 households. They do not include self-employed workers.

Of all demographic groups of workers, black men were the most likely to belong to unions, with a rate of 20.5%. Hispanic women were the least likely, at 10.4%. Union membership continued to be higher for men, at 16.1%, than for women, at 11.4%, although the gender gap has been closing in recent years.

Government workers continued to have the highest rate of union membership, at about 37%, compared to 9.4% for private-sector workers.

Labor leaders attributed the difference between public and private sectors, which has been growing for the last two decades, to vigorous resistance by private employers.

“That’s the other side of the equation,” said the AFL-CIO’s Adams. “All the polling shows that there are millions of workers who want to join unions, but employers fight very hard.”

To counter that resistance, unions are trying to build alliances with community and religious groups to put pressure on employers to stay neutral in organizing drives.

The survey also showed a wide--but shrinking--earnings gap between union members and nonmembers, but noted that the difference can be attributed to many factors, including the distribution of members by occupation, industry or geographic region.

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Unions Losing Ground

The percentage of union or association membership overall has been falling steadily in the U.S. in recent years.

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1998: 13.9% of workers in unions

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Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics