How to stem the decline of unions

By GARY CHAISON
The Providence Journal
Friday, May 11, 2007

Unions are losing members at a rapid rate. To see firsthand the decline that has been happening for years one has only to look as far as the membership survey published annually by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Recently released figures reveal that unions lost 326,000 members last year, and the percentage of the workforce in unions dropped from 12.5 percent to 12 percent. Although the figures for 2006 were disheartening and surprising, they were not unlike those in any other recent year. Since 1980, the unions have lost nearly 5 million members. This is equivalent to having six big unions, each roughly the size of the United Automobile Workers, disappear.

In private industry, where low-cost nonunion firms grow most quickly and unionized firms often transfer work overseas, the portion of the workforce in unions is now 7.4 percent. This means that unionization has returned to the level of the 1920s, before the huge organizing drives in the mass-production industries (e.g., autos and steel).

Gone are the traditional strongholds of unionism; the unionization rate is now only 13 percent in construction, 11.7 percent in manufacturing and 7.5 percent in mining. And there are few union members in the growth sectors of the economy; the unionization rate is now only 8.3 percent in education and health services and 3.1 percent in the leisure and hospitality industries. Only 6.3 percent of the large and growing part-time workforce is union-affiliated.

Unions are caught in a cycle of decline. As membership falls, the dues payments from members _ the main source of union income _ also falls. Union members rarely opt to have their dues increased.

Union officers must make a difficult choice: Should the scarce union funds be used to provide services to the present members or allocated to recruiting new members? Union officers, who naturally want to be re-elected, know that the rank-and-file will vote against them if union funds are shifted from members' services (e.g., helping members in negotiations and enforcing collective agreements) to recruit new members. Officers are keenly aware that they are elected by present members who are already organized -- not potential members who have yet to be organized _ so they give a low priority to organizing. It seems every year the cycle of decline continues -- membership sinks further, fewer dues are collected, and organizing is again neglected.

Surveys show that about one-third of non-union workers would agree to be represented by unions if they were asked. The problem is that they are not being asked.

Because employers oppose unionization and the law of organizing is complex and cumbersome (it calls for lengthy hearings and secret ballot elections to determine if unions will win bargaining rights), it costs about $1,500 to organize each new union member. Most unions believe organizing is too difficult and too expensive, and they allocate less than 5 percent of their operating budgets to it. In essence, they have retreated from the organizing field.

If the unions are going to break the cycle of decline, they must first admit that they have not grown because they lack the will to organize. Union leaders must have the courage to try to persuade their members to increase dues as well as devote a larger share of the union budget to organizing. This will be especially challenging given that many union workers are fixated on the present. They are understandably concerned about keeping their jobs and employee benefits in these times of intense international competition and massive lay-offs. They want to see their unions spend time and energy protecting jobs.

Union leaders must persuade their members first that organizing, though tough and expensive, is an investment in their union's future, and second, if the cycle of decline is not broken soon their union may have no future.

Gary Chaison is a professor of Industrial Relations at Clark University in Worcester, R.I., and the author of "Unions in America." For more stories visit scrippsnews.com