| | | Union membership in Wisconsin plummets in wake of GOP measures
By Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel
Jan. 28, 2016
jsonline.com
Madison— Union membership in Wisconsin collapsed in 2015, falling well below the national average for the first time and thinning the ranks of the labor movement by tens of thousands of workers in one of its former bastions.
The number of dues-paying workers within the state’s labor groups has fallen steadily since GOP Gov. Scott Walker signed his signature legislation, 2011’s Act 10, which repealed most collective bargaining for most public workers. But new federal statistics show that trend intensified in 2015 after Walker and GOP lawmakers followed up on Act 10 by approving so-called right-to-work legislation last spring.
That measure blocked unions and private employers from reaching contracts that required workers to pay labor fees.
In 2015, 8.3% of Wisconsin workers, or 223,000 in all, were members of unions. That was down sharply from the 306,000 people, or 11.7% of the state’s workforce, who belonged to unions in 2014.
“They’re pretty remarkable,” Will Jones, a labor historian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said of the numbers.... |
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