Union membership drops nationwide, Minnesota mirrors trend
Nationally, the total number of union members fell from 11.8 percent to 11. 3 percent of the workforce last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statics. Reuters reports that's the lowest percentage in 76 years -- when Franklin Roosevelt was president.
MinnPost says labor unions in Minnesota also suffered declines in 2012. Roughly 14.2 percent of Minnesota workers were union members last year, down from 15.1 percent the year before.
In Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-led Legislature stripped most state workers of collective bargaining rights in 2011, union membership fell to 11.2 percent last year, down from 13.3 percent in 2011, the Milwaukee Business Journal reported.
