Washington state unions are crowing about an increase in membership for 2021.
“This is great news not only for Washington’s union members who gain power with increased numbers, it’s good for all working people in this state,” said Larry Brown, president of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, in a statement to the union publication The Stand. “When workers join together in unions, they earn more money, they boost our state and local economies, and fight to lift working standards for everyone.”
The unionized percentage of the state’s workforce climbed from 17.4% to 19%, or from 557,000 workers to 629,000 workers from the previous year, according to a report for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
“With 72,000 more members,” reported The Stand, Washington “now ranks 3rd in union membership.”
The states of Hawaii and New York had higher union concentrations in their workforces, with 22.4% and 22.2% respectively, according to BLS numbers.
At the same time, Brown and The Stand admitted Washington was bucking a larger trend. Across the total American workforce, the unionization rate was down from 10.8% to 10.3%.
“At a national level, these 2021 numbers are a wake-up call,” Brown said.
Maxford Nelsen, director of labor policy for the Freedom Foundation in Olympia, quibbled with the numbers, and insisted that they could fall precipitously given a change in law.
“The annual union membership data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is based on a confusingly-worded survey conducted by the Census Bureau,” he told The Center Square. “Relatively small sample sizes at the state level also allow for a large enough margin for error for year-to-year changes to appear larger than actually occurred.”
Over the last decade, Nelsen said, “union membership in Washington, as measured by BLS, has fluctuated between 16.8 and 19.4%, so this year’s report is well within historical parameters.”
Many states have extended right-to-work protections to workers, which make it illegal for unions to get workers fired for failure to join a union or pay dues or fees. Washington state has not yet done that, Nelsen said.
In contrast, for public sector workers, the Supreme Court’s 2014 Janus decision has given most government employees the right to opt out if they so choose.
“Increasing numbers have chosen to resign their union membership and stop paying dues,” Nelsen said. “For instance, payroll data from the Office of Financial Management indicates that the Washington Federation of State Employees/AFSCME Council 28 — by far the largest union representing state employees — has lost more than 12,000 dues payers since the court’s ruling. As of November 2021, fully 35% of WFSE-represented state agency workers paid no dues.”
