It is remarkable and troubling that government employees are now the majority of union members in America.
Total union membership — in the private sector and government combined — fell to 12.3 percent in 2009. But there was so much expansion of the federal government and government unions in the past year that government union members are now more numerous than union members with private-sector jobs.
That is distressing, both because it shows the explosive growth of government and because government workers — who are supposed to be public servants — ought not to be unionized at all.
But far from being troubled by the growth of government unions, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis thinks there should be more union membership across the board.
“These numbers show a need for Congress to pass legislation to level the playing field to enable more American workers to access the benefit of union membership,” she told Bloomberg News.
She was referring to legislation that would boost union growth in many cases by taking away workers’ right to a secret-ballot vote on whether a workplace would unionize. The legislation would largely replace secret ballots with a so-called “card check” system that would expose employees to pressure from union activists.
Secret ballots are essential in making sure workers actually vote as they wish — without intimidation by either the union or management.
What’s more, private-sector union membership has dropped in part because Americans have watched the collapse of jobs in heavily unionized industries under the weight of their unsustainable wages, benefits and work rules. Union contracts add hundreds of dollars to the price of many American-made cars, for instance. That has hurt sales and killed jobs.
There are things Congress can do to reduce unemployment and get our economy moving. Artificially inflating union membership through bad legislation is not one of them.