Union decline continues in 2012

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) annual report on union membership:

"In 2012, the union membership rate--the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of a union--was 11.3 percent, down from 11.8 percent in 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions, at 14.4 million, also declined over the year. 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."

Union decline causes wage inequality

Mother says so.

Revitalization roadmap

A former union organizer (20 years) has penned a piece on revitalizing unions for The Nation. Key point, unions need to organize people, not necessarily in unions, but around ideas and causes that really matter to, well, people.

Can unions save the middle class? Doubtful

The Economic Policy Institute says the answer is simple: higher union density is needed to preserve the middle class. One blogger takes on the logic. Productivity declines is not the problem, but marginal performers will suffer job losses.