STATE OF THE UNIONS: REPORT SHOWS MODEST GAINS FOR BIG LABOR
For the first time since 2009, the percentage of private sector workers belonging to a union increased in 2013 – from 6.6 to 6.7 percent. Meanwhile the total number of private sector jobs covered by union contracts also climbed – from 7.3 to 7.5 percent, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
In the public sector – which has helped keep organized labor alive in recent years – unionization stood at 35.3 percent last year, down modestly from 35.9 percent in 2012.
All told, 11.3 percent of the nation’s workforce (14.5 million workers) was unionized in 2013 – identical to 2012 but down from 2011’s total of 11.8 percent.
Well, well … just when the free market had this job-killing, price-hiking economic cancer on the ropes, along comes U.S. President Barack Obama to endow it with new life.
Gotta keep those liberal campaign coffers full, right?
South Carolina’s unionization rate was just 3.7 percent. That’s the third-lowest rate in America, although that hasn’t stopped S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley from bashing labor … and vice versa.
States with the highest rates of unionization were New York (24.4 percent), Alaska (23.1 percent) and Hawaii (22.1 percent).
We’re obviously disappointed with these results. Unions serve no purpose other than to artificially inflate wages (and taxpayer costs) so that dues can be paid to a corrupt cabal of leaders – who then use that money to elect liberal politicians who will perpetuate the cycle.
And yes, we’re talking about so-called “Main Street” Republicans, too …
64 comments
I’m generally not a fan of unions, but how do unions in a private business increase taxpayer costs?
It works like this.. the union gets together to bargain for a living wage… the corporation big shots end up with a 1% cut in salary… they are therefore forced to cheat on their taxes, and get caught.. landing them in prison. It costs us 30,000 a year to house them.
You have to apply Sic Wilie logic and math. Unions bargain for higher wages. Union workers now pay higher taxes as a result of their increased wages. Therefore taxpayer “costs” have increased. If we could get rid of unions and lower wages we could decrease taxpayer “costs” unless of course the same workers now qualify for government assistance.
All private sector construction unions bargain on a “total package”,i.e. sum of hourly wages plus health care and retirement programs. Then the members vote on how much to allocate to health and retirement. These benefits are subtracted from the “total package”. the contractors pay NOTHING into the fringes.
This is how the members cover their own retirement and healthcare.
In contrast to paying others a wage so pitiful they are forced into social services.
You know in the 40+ years I worked in the trade, I NEVER met a UNION construction worker who was not covered by his own health insurance and retirement.
Sadly, I can’t say the same for the “merit shop” workers.
And the caveat for this, all of their “customers” chose to have companies employing UNION construction workers build their businesses and factories.
They drive up the cost for everything. The minimum wage cry is nothing but a baseline that allows unions to re-negotiate deals, to extract more money from companies that are at risk..so fat-cats can sit on their @$$#$…They don’t care if the company goes out of business…until they do..and the unions, and the poor workers, are SOL by then…
Yeah, your right. Did you notice how Obama ran the economy into the ground between 2007 and 2008. He did a lousy job as President then.
Meanwhile, SC, run by real honest conservative Americans – is a shining example of wealth, prosperity and equality. Just go check out Florence – wealthiest town in North America.
What a silly question. Unions require the state of SC to offer even greater incentives to the companies they recruit to fight off the Union’s complaints about SC being a right to work for poverty wages state – and that impacts the costs to SC tax payers in the free dollars for the company to move to SC. Now some might also argue that unions cause companies to move away, but ask the 100s of people in Florence who worked for Chase and were not unionized how that worked out for them. And even worse, Pedro’s attractions aren’t as busy as they used to be – so slim pickings – but at least they are non-unionized pickings. But you might ask, if this non-union stuff means fewer jobs actually in SC, or poverty wages – doesn’t that increase cost to tax payers for social services? But SC gets more federal tax dollars then they pay in tax dollars, so the strategy is actually a win.
“Unions require the state of SC to offer even greater incentives to the companies they recruit to fight off the Union’s complaints about SC being a right to work for poverty wages state – and that impacts the costs to SC tax payers in the free dollars for the company to move to SC.”
You do realize that if there were no Unions anywhere, businesses wouldn’t be moving to SC right? Boeing didn’t move to North Charleston for the crime rate and terrible school districts.
Boeing didn’t move to North Charleston for the crime rate and terrible school districts.
They did build in North Chuck. You can see how someone might draw that conclusion….
Will: Unions a “cancer”?
That’s like a pimple calling an end stage carcinoma ugly…
unions give power to the workers. That sounds like communism to someone making millions of dollars a year bankrupting America with bailouts.
I’m still LingMAO at the @$$-kicking the UAW took at VW in Chattanooga. The left is taking it hard, too…
One ol’ Tennessee boy told a reporter these punk-yankee thugs kept calling him w/ veiled threats. He told em to Ki$$ his @$$…
Thank God the South allows guns. An armed citizen will trump a punk union fatcat, every time…Hahahaha…
Except the Verkers Council in Germany is now going to nix the VW expansion in Tennessee. Way to go. Hey, by the by, how’s Boeing doing?
A little history from the 70’s.
Phillip Morris took options on a large parcel along I-20 west of Lexington. Promptly announced the pending construction of the largest cigarette plant in the country. Our politicians promptly told them that their UNIONIZED work force was not welcome in South Carolina. They feared that these good paying jobs, with tremendous benefits, would harm the textile industry.
Phillip Morris pulled out and built the plant just south of Richmond, Virginia along I-95.
Couple of years later, Miller Brewing took up the options on the property. They immediately encountered the same hostilities. Then built their plant in Eden, North Carolina.
You will notice I said “politicians” , not any particular party.
Last week NIMRATA made a speech in Greenville, telling the Big Three to stay out of South Carolina with their UNION employees.
Now, who suffers from the loss of the Phillip Morris and Miller jobs, and the potential loss of good jobs from the Big Three?
All were PRIVATE INDUSTRY jobs.
And what happened to the textile industry, you can’t blame that on the UNIONS!
You will never get sheep of SC to listen. Non-unionized industries were the first to be shipped to Asia not the last. The Republicans who preach against unions know this but they are in the pocket of big business and they manipulate the workers in the South by playing on their prejudices and convincing them, that unions put the textile plants out of business. Never mind the textile industry was not unionized.
Look for that Union Label.
That’s BU!!-Shit….The opposite is true….
Alaska is at 23.1% – what the heck was Sarah Palin doing all that time.
Kinda makes your lord-god Obama look like an even bigger Dumb@$$ for blocking all those Keystone Pipeline jobs.
Looks like if the Unions really cared about workers, they’d slap the livin’ $#!* out of Obama, and tell that stupid son beech to get out of the way and quit bowing to the Global Warming nuts.,…so the people could work…
I’m working. Just bought a new house by the Beach too.
You got yours…screw er’body else. That’s the democrat, Union-Obama, way…Especially if you can take what others work for…
Remember, yall were the inventors, and keepers, of slavery in the US. You still are…
No, I worked for mine. As do most people. Even the ones who voted for Big-O.
So you are against: extended unemployment, un-even taxation, QE, targeted taxes, unions, the UAW bailout, affirmative action, welfare and gov’t funded community organizers…right???
No, but none of those items stopped me from earning what I have. Or anyone else. Even you.
How did you “work for” yours???
I’d love to know…because you suck off a gov’t that takes it from other people to give it to people because they vote for your-lord god protector Obama…
I doubt VERY SERIOUSLY you will perform knee bends for Obama, if you are not a gov’t job jockey, or some contractor who gets paid by gov’t theft…Maybe you’re an ambulance chaser..or a solar-panel salesman…
Went to college. Got a job. Went to graduate school (USC), started a career. Built up a reputation, worked hard, traveled around the world. Kept working hard. Started a family. Still working hard. And oddly, I didn’t have to go around mocking people or calling them names or insulting them to get where I am. So, anyway, what’s it like to live in Barnwell. Is your local economy mooching off my tax dollars that get redirected to you through wasteful nuclear clean up projects? Maybe you’re retired military sucking up $3,000 in commissary benefits every year.
So you work SRS…???…I knew it had to be something like that…
Energy is pseudo-gov’t entity now, because liberals SO regulate it…and control it..because they know there is lots and lots of $ in it…
That said: you are in on a racket…can’t blame you for that..but you are a gov’t job jockey…
PS: I work just as hard as you claim. Actually had to PAY MY way to get a college degree……I just would NEVER take money from a corrupt gov’t…
But not enough people have character anymore. That’s not something a graduate degree gives you…..and that’s what Obama LOVES….drones like you…who march to his orders…and you love him for funneling money others earn, for him to exploit…
I don’t work at SRS, don’t live in Barnwell, don’t work for the government. I work in the private sector, always have. Just paid off the graduate degree loans, paid my way. I just don’t go around running from some perceived moocher conspiracy theories, nor dumb enough, when I compare SC to other states with more liberal leanings – that SC is left as a third world nation. When completing for last place with AL and MS is your metric – you’ve already lost.
You’re pretty ignorant to bash SC…but that is a liberal trait…attacking your nest, because it makes you feel sophisticated, Most people who do that, have never been anywhere else. And they want to sound smart.
You still have not answered what industry you work in…If not gov’t based…I can’t think of much that is thriving, in the private sector under Obama…I’d really like to know…
And you certainly present yourself as one who only shills for $#!* that is paying off for you…and screw er’body else…that is another liberal trait…
How’s that business of yours going, GT? Must be real sweet since you only need 30 minutes a day to “get ‘er done.”
Maybe you, OSHA and Rocky can send in gov’t monitors to make sure I work how the Czar-Obama says I should…Nice Liberals…
That said: I heard today that the Gov’t puts trolls on websites to combat any negative words about Obama. Communist USSR all over again….no doubt that’s who is paying you and Rocky…
Looking at your Disqus profile just now and noticed you’ve put in nine hours on fits today…
Obama tracking citizens. I thought you claim yall are doing that???
Stalin and Hitler would be proud…
Yeah, it doesn’t take the NSA to see you’re nothing but a lying hypocrite, does it?
You gave us Obamacare, @$$hole…and you’re calling me a lying hypocrite…That’s classic….’Keep your doctor, and it will cost less’…that ring a bell, idiot???
You just hate it because I expose your life for the waste that it is…and the I reveal that the god you worship is false…
Again, how’s business?
See folks, GT can’t answer that question because he just sucks at self-employment, spending all his time trolling, NOT WORKING…
What’s the question, Dumb!$$…I’ve said before, my industry, publishing hit rock bottom when Obama took over. So did the people I do business with…but I still scrape and do as well as I can…
And to top it off, I’m very rare in that I have a journalism degree, and I’m a Conservative. While Total F*#king Idiots like you, FITS and Obama whine about this discrimination against minorities…you have NO idea what True Discrimination is, unless you are a Conservative, in a liberal industry, w/ a Racist Bigot running the country….and a bunch of Dumb@$$ cushy-class liberals believing every word yall are fed…
Hope that answers your question, you ignorant F*#k….
Degree from where? I see bad grammer, improper capitalization and various other mistakes…glad you admit you’re not that much of “an earner” you’ve claimed in other posts.
Also, too bad Fox and conserative outlets aren’t knocking your door in for your genius Skillz…
Typical liberal. While I blast the $#!* out of you because of your politics, dangerous worship of god-Obama and hatred for America…you wish harm on a man personally…very small of you…
Your Hate is rivaled only by your Racism and ignorance…You beg for hand-outs, only to be guided by the corruption and filth your party affiliation dictates….
Thank God Obama will be rendered helpless in Nov. and the democrats vanquished in 2016…You are a nasty breed…and a disgrace to your country…
GT, Please take a well deserved break from Fits and get to work on that opinion piece and maybe, just fucking maybe, you’ll get a bone or two…
So, now you want us to feel sorry for your under employment while bashing everyone else as lazy? Yeah, that’s right.
My apologies for the capitalization of please…I’ve obviously been humoring you too long…
What is so hilarious: You claim I spend too much time talking about politics…on FITS…yet your un-inventive, non-creative and vapid @$$ follows me around like a punk…trying to S**k my D!*k…
One thing you are addicted to is my definition of you. You are not told what you are by anyone else..and you KNOW I am right on about who and what you are…
I actually provide free therapy for you low-life cretins…
For BigT/GrandTango, business is sucking.
Metaphorically, of course.
*This am, TBG is “like buttuh” (on a roll)!*
“… a collegedegree…”
Heh!
TBG always assumed you went to Sakerlina.
If BigT/GrandTango was retired military…we’d all be speaking Vietnamese, Spanish, Russian, or Arabic now…..
Glen Rice?
You misread the question. That would be “Who the heck is Sarah Palin doing?”
Aren’t we all part of the “Union” – I mean didn’t Sherman march up from Georgia and convince SC to rejoin the “Union.”
Unions have their uses, even today. Just because there are a number of unions that have outgrown their usefulness and do more harm than good, that doesn’t mean all unions are bad no matter what, and it certainly doesn’t mean that no workforce in America today could benefit from a union.
It is a tool to use against an employer who abuses its employees, let it be used as such.
That’s actually true…but being reasonable will get you excommunicated from the democrat party for blaspheme.
What just happened?
You upvoted Damned Tango, and there was a vibration in the force.
Getting rid of unions would be like getting rid of cars because they’re not improving.
Like unions did all but get rid of GM …until the Robber Baron Obama took our money and bought the company for the UA W
It’s good to see that in the public sector the percentage has dropped.
Public-sector unions are the true problem. Private sector unions are generally held in check because they cannot push too hard; otherwise, they bankrupt the company and kill the golden goose. Those unions are motivated to keep the business thriving.
Public-sector unions, on the other hand, have no such checks. The government does not go out of business, as it can simply raise taxes, print money, or borrow money to cover the difference. When politicians can raise union benefits with no real consequence, the taxpayers are the ones who suffer.
So Union membership is at the lowest level at the same time middle class wages stagnate and ratio between pay of a CEO and the rest of the employees continue to grow.
Probably not related. Praise be to the glorious job creators!
job creators!
—–
That gives me an idea for a reality show like Sasquatch hunters.
“from 7.3 to 7.5 percent” did that .2 percent increase happen in Detroit?
I think FITS gusto in believing that the unions and Obama are growing, is indicative of the problem of stupid and gullible people……
FITS would bash any number that Conservatives threw at him in their favor, immediately. But he just accepts what the leftist radicals tell him “incuriously” …
Just looking the heroic efforts of Scott Walker in Wisc. and the rejection of VW in Tenn. makes Obama’s numbers dubious…and we all know Obama has been caught lying, especially w/ job numbers…
Could it be that lazy-fatcat union bosses are robbing idiot-union members blind, and doing NOTHING to earn what they are stealing (see Obama)….???
Unless the fracking crews that are holding this country up…while Obama makes a mess of it…are going union…I’m not seeing where these numbers are coming from.
The Rust Belt is bleeding jobs..and growing states, like Conservative SC and Texas would fill your @$$ w/ buckshot if some gangster w/ a Jersey accent tried to force them to sign a union card….
Somebody, other than the O-leaning- imbecile FITS will have to SHOW ME, before I drink this liberal glass of Kool-Aid…
Wonder what Nikki and the Republicans are going to say when Boeing down in Charleston becomes unionized?