Most Unionized Jobs in the US Include Teachers and Firefighters

Government workers are the most unionized, but select private sector labor makes the list too

Now you know where they get the idea for the kinds of folks to place on all those phone book covers.

CNN provides readers with the "Top 8 Union Jobs" in the US. Noting the relatively large number of unionized workers in the public over the private sector - where union membership has decreased tremendously over the last three decades - CNN informs us of the following well-known occupations bearing collective bargaining rights:

1. Government workers: "About 37% were union members in 2011...the same as in 1983."

2. Teachers: "37% of all education workers are union members."

3. Firefighters and Cops: "35% of the entire occupation...are union members."

4. Factory Workers: "11% of manufacturing workers were union members in 2011, down significantly from 24% in 1986."

5. Construction Workers: "14% of construction workers were union members last year, down from 22% 25 years earlier."

6. Transportation and Warehousing Workers: "Nearly 4.3 million U.S. workers are involved in transportation and warehousing...about 900,000 are unionized."

7. Utilities Workers: "About a quarter of workers at utility companies are union members."

8. Telecommunications Workers: "About 15.6% of telecom workers are unionized...include employees of cable, satellite, Internet and telephone providers."

Via CNN.

Are workers in these sectors helped or hurt by union membership?

[jessejaymes]

While I have never been in a union other than some film trade unions (which means nothing other than you can get a job in the industry) I have no great love for unions for that simple reason. HOWEVER to think that this nation would even have a minimum wage law without the unions of the past is ignorance. Unions serve a purpose at times and they will come back when times get bad enough again. We like to think these are hard times. Well, as long as flat screen TV's are selling, as long as people find the money for the latest Xbox or PS I'm not sold. These are not tough times. These are somewhat tough times. It's going to get worse. And the unions will be back.

[marine1]

You are wide eyed and spot on with this one. The unions are a lot like the republican party. They both need to look at the whole picture, adopt a set of principals that benifit the success of both sides and work with all concerns to enhance prosperity for all.

[Dan_Tien]

It's interesting that the existence of unions is justified as necessary to protect workers from unscrupulous employers who might otherwise force them to work long hours in hazardous conditions for low pay, and the most populous unions are for government workers.

[woodtick57]

Most of those protections are now laws that protect union and non-union workers the same.

[norezen]

That would be because the unscrupulous employers have done everything they can to get rid of unions.

[woodtick57]

@norezen

maybe, I guess, I don't know...

Could be that we, as a society have realized that workers do have rights to safety and reasonable working conditions...

[Waynestew]

@woodtick57 Nope, As soon as the Republicans succeed in destroying unions you will see all of these things change slowly.

[woodtick57]

@Waynestew

What things?

[IMAQT]

FDR openly opposed bargaining rights for government unions.

"The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service," Roosevelt wrote in 1937 to the National Federation of Federal Employees. Yes, public workers may demand fair treatment, wrote Roosevelt. But, he wrote, "I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place" in the public sector. "A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government."

[RobertJHarsh]

Unions ultimately hurt people. They place caps on wages, benefits, does not allow workers to have their own legal representation, votes are often not majority-rules (instead only a partial percentage) and it takes away a persons ability to negotiate directly with an employer. Not to mention it tells workers when, where, and for how much they'll work for.

That is why unions suck. I am all for Right to Work state.

[woodtick57]

They certainly do seem to place a higher importance on seniority over actual performance. And a general attitude of bringing us down to the lowest common denominator, instead of trying to raise everyone to the highest possible ability...

[methinks]

@woodtick57 That's why a lazy person can prosper within a union. There is no incentive to be your best. The unions of today are safe havens for people like this, which probably makes early union organizers turn in their graves. Been there; done that.

[EnemyCombatant]

@methinks Yea all those lazy firefighters and cops risking their lives for the rest of us. Get a clue dude.

[RobertJHarsh]

@EnemyCombatant What's that got to do with unions?

[EnemyCombatant]

@RobertJHarsh umm they belong to unions

[Bobolinsky]

"teachers (public sector), firefighters (public sector)"... and government workers.

More and more people are waking up to the fact that there is a major difference between public and private sector unions.

When a private-sector union bleeds its host dry... the host dies a la Hostess... unless they are big enough and have enough friends in high places like Government Motors... In the case of Government Motors and Chrysler... the UAW got the "public-sector" treatment... They get a taxpayer bailout.

[woodtick57]

The unions didn't bleed hostes dry, the company was mismanaged and run into the ground through a lack of keeping up with the market and poor executive decisions. The unions may have put the final nail in an aleady-being-lowered-coffin, but they did not alone cause hostess's demise. Not even close...

[Bobolinsky]

@woodtick57-- Yeah. That's the same excuse that is always given when inflexible union contracts make things like modernization, streamlining, innovation etc more difficult. It reminds me of the Big 3 in the 70's-80's.

[woodtick57]

@Bobolinsky

The unions at Hostess did not prevent them from properly marketing their product. Any marketing person would be appalled at how they failed to rebrand their products in a changing market.

[Bobolinsky]

@woodtick57-- Sort of like the K-Car and the Pinto.

[woodtick57]

@Bobolinsky

Did hte unions force them to design, build and market those vehicles?

[jessejaymes]

Chris Christie and the Teachers Union of New Jersey came to an agreement that I understand it correctly (and I'm using the words of both Christie and the head of the Teachers Union appearing together) that allows for the removal of bad teachers and further rewards the good ones. Both were gushing at how good this was for the children of New Jersey. I think this is something we will see in the future. Seniority among unions has been long abused. Many many years ago i worked in senior management for a newspaper. All the rank and file were union. You could not get a guy with 20 years in to put down his coffee cup, pull his pants up over his beer gut and get him to do 30 minutes worth of work. Long story short that newspaper was sold to a company outside the USA, they disbanded the union and sent the beer bellies packing. Unions need to come into the reality of the world today. But they do serve a purpose if they do.

[methinks]

This is why I believe Christie may be tapped for the 2016 presidential nomination. He can, and has proven to, create a consensus with both sides, plus he doesn't mince words. As of 3 weeks ago, he had a 72% approval rating...which is unheard of in New Joisey!

[Your_Name_Here]

So how many of you believe this... The government gets its power from "We, the People" and dilutes its ability to function by entering into contracts with unions. In private enterprise you adapt to the economy and you can't do things like give out unfunded pensions that will be paid for out of future revenues.

[woodtick57]

Many private companies have set up non-union pensions that ended up being unfunded

[RoyFloyd]

Implementing national healthcare, secure retirement plans, due process in the workplace, and a living wage would negate the necessity of unions. Bring it on.

[SavageMazx]

I think unions have served their purpose, they were important in getting workers rights recognized. Now however, I think they have become a hindrance to the system. It's sad really but power has corrupted what was a good thing.

[KyleMFb]

Unions fight for the workers yeah theirs a lot of sucky unions but for the most part unions prevent corporations from raping their workers if it wasn't for unions we'd be slave workers like in china why do you think americain company's go to china it's to safe money at the cost of the workers and quality of the product and why do you think republicans made legislation that rewards americain company's going to a communist country allowing the rise of comunist china bc they themselves are comunist they even wear the red star of communism on the American flag today's republicain party is nothing of the past the only people to blame for the rise the of communist china is the communist red star republicain party

[Politicskid]

Unions help old workers.
Unions hurt young workers.
Unions hurt all consumers.

Union often hurt the best workers who happen to be young by firing them well increasing pay for older employees. It's stupid, and unfair.

My best teacher was only 28 years old. She was probably paid only like $40,000 a year. She caught me up with the other kids and turned me from a C and D student to an A and B student. By contrast my elderly teacher with a hearing aid who I had the year before and had made me fall very behind was one of the highest paid teachers in my school district...I looked it up...almost six figures excluding benefits. She was terrible, and did not deserve anywhere near three times what my younger teacher was making.

[mountain-folk]

In the early 50s I worked for Ford Motor Company building aircraft engines, and was required to join the AFofL / CIO. As I was familiar with Walter Ruther here in the U.S.A. and his brother’s famous comments from Communist Russia; “Yours for a Soviet America”; I expected some troubles with my opinions. What I could never have expected was the taxpayer’s money being wasted on individuals who couldn’t and wouldn’t do the job but who were protected by the unions. Next was the endless union mandated paper work and work rules required to get anything accomplished. Finally when I found the union goons handing out pro communist papers, against the Korean War in which my high school friends were dying, I became fully awake about the unions and their Communist affiliation. Labor unions are part and parcel of the one world effort and the effort to destroy America. Under the situation that labor unions are controlling, local, state and the federal government, we the regular folks will go broke paying the salaries and benefits that the unions buy from the elected officials. The unions are as anti American, as their bought and paid for buddy Obama the Marxist.

[RedFloppyShoes]

While the rest of us pay their freight and are hurt by it.

[MarkJM]

Note to Union folk: Do you idiots really think we private sector workers who are non-union give a damn about your concerns? We read on the news about your "free" benefits while we have to pay for our. We read that our taxpayer dollars go towards your "free" benefits. So when we hear you want to strike because you're being asked to chip in for once, don't think for one second that you'll get even the slightest ounce of sympathy from folks like me.