As union membership declined so did the middle class

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-22/union-membership-in-the-private-sector-declines-to-record-low.html

Union Membership in the Private Sector Declines to Record Low

January 22, 2010, 12:44 PM EST

By Holly Rosenkrantz

Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Union membership in the private sector declined in 2009 to a record low of 7.2 percent, as a recession eroded employment in labor-organized industries such as construction and manufacturing, a U.S. report showed.

The figure compares with 7.6 percent in 2008, according to data released today by the Labor Department. Union membership made up 12.3 percent of the total workforce, down from 12.4 percent in 2008. It increased among government workers to 37.4 percent from 36.8 percent.

Labor leaders have been trying to stem a decline in the number of organized workers, brought on by job losses at automakers and other production industries. Union members made up 16.8 percent of the private sector and 20.1 percent of the total workforce in 1983, the peak based on the way the agency currently tracks data, said Jim Walker, a department economist.

[TBF]

1. Funny how that works. nt

[Brickbat]

2. Yup.

Amazing how that works.

[Jensen]

3. The stupid keeps voting against it self...Go figure! K&R

[Little Star]

4. Ain't that the truth!

[FreakinDJ]

5. They just now found out

[Canuckistanian]

6. I'd like to see a chart of union membership and real wages together

I bet they track pretty closely.

[bobburgster]

7. Sad how easily misled the American worker is. K&R n/t

[LWolf]

8. k&r

[SHRED]

9. from the article:

“These numbers make it clear that union jobs are good jobs,” Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said in an e-mailed statement. The data “makes clear”, she said, why the administration supports the bill known as the card-check legislation that would make it easier for workers to form a union.

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Oh really?
Then why the virtual silence these last two years?


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[vi5]

10. Yeah, they "support" it the same way they do everything

"Psssst.....hey. Over here.......In this very dark room. Close all the doors and windows........<whispers very softly> we support card check legislation....SHHHHHHH...just make sure you keep quiet and don't be too loud or let anyone know or it will ruin our super secret, 12 sided dice, mega tactical plan to get it enacted."

[Spider Jerusalem]

11. WORKING class, not MIDDLE class.

One of the most fascinating examples of the "Big Lie" at work in politics is the way Americans have swallowed politicians telling them they're "middle class" when they manifestly are not. (If your job pays by the hour and involves being on your feet much of the day? You're not middle class, whatever you like to tell yourself.)

[KharmaTrain]

14. Once Upon A Time The Working Class WAS The Middle Class...

Back when one person could earn a decent living and put a couple of bucks away. It was an age when union memebership was far higher than today...of no easy credit or second mortgages. You only bought what you could honestly afford and most people were able to earn a wage that made it possible. It was when there were steel mills and a strong industrial sector that made products for this country and weren't imported. It was before the franchising and Wal-Marting that destroyed small retail and the global economy that created "too big to fail".

My late parents grew up in this world and it's long gone...we've been in a nearly 40 year decline and understandable why most wouldn't be able to see the two as one.

[Spider Jerusalem]

15. They never have been. It was always a lie.

American politicians worked as hard as they could to eradicate the concept of "working class" from the American political consciousness, for one reason: because of Communism and socialism. Who's going to pay attention to political ideas based on unity of the working class when they're smug and secure in the knowledge that they're "middle class"?

[Skidmore]

12. I'd think this would correlate more strongly with the

decline of the manufacturing sector and outsourcing, which contributed to the decline of the unions.

[pampango]

16. Perhaps, but manufacturing employment has declined in Europe, too, while unions and the middle class

have remained strong.

[AndrewP]

13. Preach on