Public-Union Ascendancy

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported recently that 51.4 of America's 15.4 million union member, or about 7.91 million workers, were employed by government in 2009. As recently as 20 years ago, there were twice as many private as public union members.

Overall union workers keeps declining, with the loss of 771,000 union jobs last year. Only one in eight workers now belong to a union, with private union employment hitting a record low of 7.2% of all jobs. Only 1 in 13 U.S. workers in the private economy pays union dues. In government, by contrast, the union employees share rose to 37.4% from 36.8% the previous year.

In private industries, union workers are subject to vagaries of the marketplace and economic growth. Thus in 2009 10.% of private union jobs were eliminated, which was more than twice the 4.4% rate of overall private job loses. On the other hand, government unions offer what is close to lifetime job security and benefits, subject only to gross negligence of duty. (and sometimes, not even then)

Once a city, county or state's workers are organized by a union, the jobs almost never go away. (Of course not. That is the major reason bureaucracies keep growing)
This means government is the main playing field of modern-unionism, which explains why the AFL-CIO AND SEIU, AFSCME have become advocates for higher taxes and government expansion in states like Illinois.

After Governor Quinn announced the potential layoff of 2600 employees, the AFSCME won an agreement to prohibit any state facility closures or mass layoff. The union says these layoffs and forced furloughs would harm the state's prospects for economic recovery and avoids putting state union workers in long lines seeking employment.

Oh, Heaven forbid that public union workers would have to stand in the same line as laid off or fired private union workers. Plus alongside of non-union laid-off or fired workers.

Obama came to office vowing to cut expenditures and reduce government. Instead, he has done just the opposite. In fiscal 2010, the Administration expects to add another 170,000 workers. The 2.148 million federal employees, not counting the Postal Service, will be the largest number of federal employees since 1992.

The real boom is in federal agencies, (not the military which has shrunk from 973,000 in 1992 to 720,000 this year) - to 1.428 million in 2010 from 1/09 million in 2009.

Presumably these tens of thousands of new workers will be needed to hand out stimulus grants, or monitor new programs or investigate private businesses (a 10% increase in SEC staff) and war crimes? supposedly committed by our security forces.

All this before health care, census workers, and cap and trade, etc.

Other reasons why union jobs and benefits keep growing have been laid out in previous blogs.

As I've said before, mommas don't let your babies grow up to work in the the private sector, unless, of course, it's the consulting business, but have them head for city, county state and federal government jobs.

That's where all the new jobs and security are to be found.

However,you might want to look more carefully at the fiscal woes of Illinois, California, New Jersey, New York and Michigan first.