International Issues

Unions Decline Globally

Labor union membership dropped in most industrialized countries between 1985 and 1995, according to a new report from a United Nations' agency. The International Labor Organization (ILO) attributed the decline to a shift away from manufacturing and the loss of many unionized jobs.

At the same time, unions are still in a position to influence policy, particularly in Europe, the report said.

  • The sharpest membership declines took place in Central and Eastern Europe -- from 21.8 million workers to 14 million over the ten-year period -- largely as a result of the end of compulsory unionism.

  • Union membership declined in about 70 of the 92 countries surveyed.

  • There are 164 million union members among an estimated nonagricultural workforce of 1.3 billion in the 92 countries.

  • Countries in which membership increased over the period include South Africa, Spain, Chile, the Philippines and South Korea.

Labor's ranks declined in the U.S., Britain, France and Germany.

Membership decreased by 3.7 percent in the U.S. and 25 percent in Britain. One of the sharpest drops occurred in Israel -- a 76 percent decline after a law barred that nation's labor federation from offering health care.

Union membership plunged in Poland by 46 percent, and in the Czech Republic by 51 percent.

The ILO, a long-time union supporter, claimed that labor remains at least as influential as before in Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and much of Eastern Europe. Labor unions were instrumental in electing left-of-center governments in Italy, France and Germany, the report claimed.

Source: Steven Greenhouse, "Union Membership Drops Worldwide, U.N. Reports," New York Times, November 4, 1997.

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