Despite President Joe Biden's repeated boasts, union membership continues to fall
While union votes and union influence steal headlines this summer, the overall trend away from organized labor has not changed under President Joe Biden.
Biden dubs himself the most pro-union president in the nearly 250-year history of the United States, plugging labor groups and often being introduced by union members at speaking engagements.
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"When I say every job in America should be a good job, including a free and fair choice to join a union, I mean it," Biden said to applause at a South Carolina manufacturing firm on July 6. "Every venture to manufacture clean energy technology would be made stronger by collective bargaining relationships. But that's up to you to decide."
The data indicate that fewer workers are choosing a collective bargaining relationship, a trend that has continued for almost 70 years.
This summer marks the five-year anniversary of the Janus v. AFSCME decision, in which the Supreme Court ruled that government employees cannot be forced to pay union fees to cover the costs of collective bargaining.
Data from the Freedom Foundation, a conservative think tank, found that the nation's top unions in aggregate have lost 733,745 members, or 10% of their total membership, in the years since. Some unions, including AFSCME itself, are now at their lowest membership level on record.
It will be an uphill battle to reverse that trend, even with a vocal ally in the White House.
Overall union membership fell from 35% in the 1950s to 20.1% in 1983 and to 10.1% in 2022. Private sector union membership is down to just 6%, though roughly one-third of government employees remain unionized.
Union members do not always agree with Democrats on policy matters. Biden's own green energy agenda is coming up against labor resistance, with organized auto workers prepared to strike over the hazards and lack of benefits in electric vehicle production. Biden must also work to keep blue-collar union members from slipping into the Republican column as candidates like former President Donald Trump play up American manufacturing and the virtues of import tariffs.
But more recent headlines showcase unions fighting their traditional battles over pay, benefits, and worker protections.
UPS is struggling to stave off its first worker strike since 1997 as the newly emboldened Teamsters union seeks higher pay for both full- and part-time workers. The Atlanta-based shipping giant is by far the U.S.'s largest private unionized employer, with some 340,000 Teamsters delivering 24 million packages a day.
The stakes are high all around.
Sean O'Brien became Teamsters president last year, ending the 23-year tenure of labor scion James Hoffa after campaigning on a promise to get tough in negotiations. The Teamsters voted by a 97% margin to authorize a strike, which would begin Aug. 1 if a deal isn't reached.
"It's strictly down to economics," O'Brien said in a recent Bloomberg interview. "They know what we want and they know what we need. They know what our members deserve."
But UPS business could quickly shift toward nonunion Amazon and FedEx trucks in a work stoppage, cutting business for UPS and membership for the union. UPS officials point to an average pay of $93,000 for drivers and pensions for full and even part-time workers as evidence that it is more than a competitive employer.
"No one wins in a job action, including the employees, who lose wages, and our customers, who lose critical services," company spokesperson Natasha Amadi said. "We believe we will find common ground and reach a deal that is a win for our employees, the Teamsters, UPS. and our customers before Aug. 1."
Biden administration officials are not involved directly, though they are in touch with both sides and signaling support for the Teamsters. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su told Bloomberg that "a fair contract is something that workers choose."
But Biden's labor boasting may be more show than substance, argues Duke University fellow Dan Bowling.
"He pays a lot of lip service to the unions but then does very little," Bowling, who teaches labor and employment courses, said.
Bowling argues there is now a disconnect between the unions' political actions and the views of most blue-collar workers, which is evidenced by the kinds of workplaces now unionizing, including Starbucks stores, Washington, D.C., think tanks, and even hospital physicians.
But that lip service is for a reason: Labor unions bring in substantial dollars for Democratic candidates. Biden launched his 2020 presidential campaign at a Teamsters hall in Pittsburgh, with labor organizations contributing $27.5 million to his White House bid.
Organized labor's big money influence means unions still hold major sway over Democratic elected officials.
Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) reversed course on a $100 million school voucher program after facing heavy opposition from teachers unions, even though the program had been a campaign promise.
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Other high-profile examples include a controversy over the American Federation of Teachers effectively lobbying the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over school reopening guidance and the subsequent revelation that AFT President Randi Weingarten had the direct phone number of CDC head Rochelle Walensky.
"Democrats still jump when unions call," Bowling said. "That's where a lot of their funding is."
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