LOSING MEMBERS
Overall, union membership has steadily fallen since the heydays of the late ’40s and ’50s. The Steelworkers Union membership is following the same trend.
Fewer members means less dues money, so the Steelworkers merged with other unions in other industries — as varied as upholsterers, glassworkers, transportation workers, even chemical workers — to increase membership, adding nearly 700,000 members since 1967.
Even with all the mergers, the Union has lost more than 200,000 members since 2005.
But, what’s more interesting is that without adding members from mergers, the Steelworkers Union would actually have less than 0 members.
UNHAPPY MEMBERS
Unfair Labor Practice charges (ULPs) have been filed against the union since 2014.
NEW MEMBERS? NOT EXACTLY
The union is desperately trying to increase its membership through organizing campaigns, like this one.
The union filed 503 representation petitions for election with the NLRB in the last 10 years, but weren’t able to win even half of these elections.
GETTING RID OF THE UNION
And rather than adding new members, the union has been involved in 218 decertification petitions since 2014, where union members decide whether to kick out the union.
The union was only able to win 24% of the decertification petitions filed, again not a good sign for a struggling union.
Source: 2014-2023 data compiled by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.