Organized Labor Grows Substantially

Union membership across the country rose by more than 265,000 last year, the largest annual membership growth in more than 20 years, the AFL-CIO reports.

AFSCME’s organizing efforts added more than 20,000 eligible new members in 1999. There were 132 victories among public-sector employees, yielding a total of more than 15,000 eligible members. The union also recorded 63 organizing victories among private-sector employees in 1999, a gain of more than 6,200 eligible members.

According to AFL-CIO figures, union membership nationwide has increased by 112,492 in the private sector, nearly twice the size of the only other such annual increase in two decades.