[[link removed]]

LABOR UNIONS ARE GROWING, BUT WHERE DEPENDS ON STATE POLITICS  
[[link removed]]


 

Kevin Hardy
September 7, 2026
Wisconsin Examiner
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ More Americans are turning to unions as a xxxxxx against the
rising cost of living, and more public sector workers turned towards
unions last year in the wake of some federal actions and federal
headwinds. _

Members of Virginia Professional Firefighters association hold signs
during their biannual convention in May to protest Democratic Gov.
Abigail Spanberger’s veto of collective bargaining legislation. ,
(Photo by Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury)

 

Labor union membership continues to climb in the United States, though
the increase remains sharply divided by the politics of individual
states.

Last year, the nation added more than 411,000 union members — the
largest annual growth since 2008, according to a study published
[[link removed]]
just ahead of the Labor Day holiday by the Illinois Economic Policy
Institute and the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

At the end of last year, more than 14.6 million American workers
belonged to a union — about 10% of the workforce, the study said. 

While union membership grew across the country, the State of the
Unions report found that states that have sought to protect or
strengthen collective bargaining rights added three times as many
union members as so-called right-to-work states, which prohibit
mandatory union membership or dues as conditions of employment.

“What seems to be the number one driver is the state of the
state,” said one of the study authors, Robert Bruno, who leads the
labor education program at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. “If the policy is anti-union, it suppresses worker
will. Where the law allows worker will to flourish, as I would argue
it should, then you see higher numbers. So you can’t ignore
politics. You can’t ignore policy.” 

State governments are nearly evenly divided on labor policy, with 26
states having right-to-work laws. Union membership rates sit at about
14% in collective bargaining states and 5% in right-to-work states,
the study found.

The study shows that workers in collective bargaining states earn
significantly more than those in other states. After adjusting for
cost of living variances, the report calculated average hourly
earnings of $34.16 in right-to-work states and $37.24 in collective
bargaining states.

Union density is nowhere close to its record high. In 1954, more than
a third of American workers belonged to unions. Today, that rate is
about 10%.  And unions face major policy headwinds at the state and
federal levels. In recent years, Southern states have passed new laws
[[link removed]]
aimed at curbing union expansion. And President Donald Trump has
sought to strip collective bargaining rights from more than 1 million
federal workers. 

Researchers said it’s unclear how federal actions will affect union
membership figures. Many of the president’s moves are being
litigated in courts and more federal workers have sought to unionize
under this administration. 

But public support for labor unions is growing among Republicans and
Democrats, Gallup polling shows
[[link removed]]. 

“More Americans are turning to unions as a xxxxxx against the
rising cost of living, and more public sector workers turned towards
unions last year in the wake of some federal actions and federal
headwinds,” said State of the Unions coauthor Frank Manzo IV, an
economist at the left-leaning Illinois Economic Policy Institute. 

Conservatives have long argued that unions’ benefit on wage growth
has been overstated by pro-labor interests. 

In a 2025 review
[[link removed]]of
147 studies, researchers at the free-market think tank Mercatus Center
concluded that powerful labor unions can lead to slower job growth and
fewer jobs for unionized workers, reduce company investments in
research and development, and increase the likelihood of company
closures. 

Researchers at the George Mason University think tank said the
difference between the wages of unionized workers and nonunionized
workers has declined in recent years and may even be negligible. 

“When powerful and adversarial unions operate with
government-granted monopoly privileges and press for unsustainable
terms, it can backfire and result in lost jobs and fewer opportunities
for workers,” that report said.

This year, state lawmakers passed dozens of bills seeking to boost
worker protections across 19 states, according to tracking by State
Futures
[[link removed]],
a nonprofit coordinating hundreds of Democratic lawmakers across the
states.

Those measures included three bills aimed at expanding collective
bargaining.

Illinois lawmakers granted rideshare and gig drivers the right to
organize
[[link removed]]
and to bargain collectively. Washington state extended collective
bargaining rights
[[link removed]]to
certain university student employees.

And Virginia lawmakers approved a measure to repeal the state’s
longstanding ban on public-sector collective bargaining. That would
have expanded the possibility of union membership to half a million
public employees in the commonwealth. But Democratic Gov. Abigail
Spanberger vetoed that measure
[[link removed]]in
May. 

The governor said she agreed with the goal of expanding collective
bargaining rights. But she urged the legislature to adopt specific
amendments, including delaying provisions of the bill until 2030 and
shifting authority over how the system operates to a state board. 

“While preserving the enrolled bill’s focus on allowing public
employees to achieve collective bargaining, my amendments would have
also provided additional flexibility for public employers to take into
account existing local budget timelines and processes,” Spanberger
wrote in her veto message. “However, the General Assembly rejected
these amendments.”

 

_Kevin Hardy covers business, labor and rural issues for Stateline
from the Midwest._

 

_Wisconsin Examiner is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site offering a
fresh perspective on politics and policy in our state. As the largest
news bureau covering state government in Madison, the Examiner offers
investigative reporting and daily coverage dedicated to the public
interest. We take our inspiration from the motto emblazoned on a
ceiling in our state Capitol: “The Will of the People Is the Law of
the Land.”_

_This story was originally produced by __Stateline_
[[link removed]]_,
which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which
includes Wisconsin Examiner, and is supported by grants and a
coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity._

* union membership
[[link removed]]
* Right-to-Work
[[link removed]]
* Illinois
[[link removed]]
* Virginia
[[link removed]]
* collective bargaining
[[link removed]]
* Labor Day
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Bluesky [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]