Unions Lose Again

Union membership in the U.S. private sector has fallen to record lows, with 2024 data showing only 5.9% of the U.S. private sector workforce is unionized, according to research by the Pew Research Center. They point out that this is down sharply from 20.1% in 1983 and 37% in 1957.

That number is about to get lower as employees at Penske Truck Leasing in Richmond are officially free from the unwanted “representation” of Teamsters Local 592 union officials, after the National Labor Relations Board certified a vote of Penske workers to “decertify” Teamsters union bosses.

The decertification effort was spearheaded by Penske employee Jordan Cutrell, who received free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys during the decertification process.

Virginia is one of 26 states that still have “right-to-work” laws on their books. These safeguard workers by making union membership and dues payment strictly voluntary. But that position has fallen under attack as recently as the last General Assembly session.

While passing minimum wage hikes, compensation reforms, paid family leave, and employment regulations on hiring, Sen. Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-Prince William, tried but failed to repeal the “right-to-work” law. The Senate did not take it up before the session’s deadline, effectively killing it, for now.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger is on record saying that she opposes a full repeal but has said reforms may be necessary in the future. She has not been forthcoming on what those might be when asked on multiple occasions, preferring to leave it that she is “open to suggestions.”

The issue arose here in Virginia because federal law grants union officials the power to impose their exclusive “representation” on every employee in a work unit, including those who never voted for, joined, or supported the union.

Other Penske Truck Leasing employees who have successfully removed unwanted union bosses from their facilities include workers in Dallas, Texas; Bloomington, Indiana; Eagan and Roseville, Minnesota; Nashville, Tennessee; and Swedesboro, New Jersey.

National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix sat down with me (full interview linked below) and said, “Labor law is written in favor of union officials, going back to the 1930s, when at that point in time, you could be forced to formally join a private organization and pay dues to that organization as a condition of getting or keeping a job in America. And believe it or not, those federal laws are still on the books. But there is an exception, and that is states being able to pass what are known as right-to-work laws.”

So, if you are reading about the National Right to Work Foundation for the first time, you might think it is just a ‘union-buster.’ Not so. Mark Mix told me, “I believe there was a place for unions. There is a place for unions and there will be a place for unions, but there’s no place for force. When you add the compulsion and the force on top of the power that unions have, it makes them completely unaccountable.”

Believe it or not, Michigan was, ever so briefly, a Right to Work state, too. Ratified in 2024, within a year it was repealed.

So, why is the percentage of American union membership at record lows? Mark had a thought, “I think employers recognize more and more that taking care of their employees is probably priority No. 1 to a successful business.”

He added a name you might have heard of: “Sam Walton started out running a five and dime in a little Arkansas town and has probably made more millionaires in America among employees and associates, not just other investors, but people that actually work there.”

He added that he saw it early on: “I was servicing them during college, during a summer job that I had. And Walmart, Walmart stores were my customers. And every time I went in there, there was somebody that was happy. I walk into the employee room and the stock prices on the wall, and everyone’s participating.”

When economic historians talk about “American Exceptionalism,” they point to how the U.S. workforce was more productive than any country in the world because the worker got to choose who they worked with.

Sounds like a winning idea.

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