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Michigan union membership at lowest point in years
Posted: 01.22.2011 at 11:18 AM
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It's at the lowest since 1989
DETROIT (AP) -- A new report shows the number of workers in Michigan who belong to a union dropped last year to its lowest point in at least 20 years.
The state had 627,000 unionized workers in 2010, compared with 710,000 a year earlier.
That's according to figures released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Detroit News says it's the lowest number of union workers in Michigan since the Labor Department began tracking membership by state in 1989.
Michigan AFL-CIO President Mark Gaffney says the decline can be attributed to the state's sharp decline in manufacturing, a stagnant economy, and a difficult environment for organizing workers.
He tells the News, unions need to do a better job of explaining what they "do for society."
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Information from: The Detroit News, http://detnews.com/
(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)