Statistics on Unions

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Statistics on Unions

According to the most recent LM-2 and LM-3 financial disclosure forms which they are required to file with the U.S. Department of Labor , private sector unions have roughly $15 billion in total annual receipts.

Based on previous DOL analysis, 45% of all these receipts come from members in the form of dues, fees, fines, assessments, per capita taxes and work permits. That means private sector unions collect $6.75 billion from their members annually.

Until 1982, the Labor Department estimated that approximately 80% of union contracts contained some requirement that employees pay union dues as a condition of employment. The Labor Department ceased publication of this estimate in 1982, but the Bureau of National Affairs has continued to verify the 80% figure, most recently in the 14th Edition of Basic Patterns in Union Contracts. Eighty percent of $6.75 billion amounts to about $5.4 billion, which union officials take from private sector employees as forced dues each year.

In 2000, almost 10 million private sector employees were covered by union contracts. The BNA formula would thus indicate that eight million private sector employees are laboring under contracts requiring them to pay dues as a condition of employment.

With ten million private sector workers paying $6.75 billion out of their pockets in 2000, the average collection was $675 per employee.

In 1987, private sector union officials spent $2.28 billion on payroll. The labor department no longer provides data on total expenditures from LM-2 and LM-3 forms. Assuming, however, that union payroll expenses have at least kept pace with inflation, that would put the payroll expenses of private sector unions in 2000 at a minimum of $3.46 billion.

Testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives' Oversight Committee on March 21, 1996, Rutgers University economist Leo Troy estimated that Organized Labor would spend from $300 million to $500 million that year on "in-kind" political activities. Such operations would include paid "volunteer" time, mailings, phone banks, and get-out-the-vote drives. These activities would cost three to five times more than the reported union PAC expenditures of approximately $95 million in the 1992-92 or $128.7 million in the 1999-2000 election cycles.

Sources:

Almost $15 billion = 2000 Private Sector Union LM-2 Total Receipts:

$14,982,900,644 is the figure MKG obtained figure from contact at Department of

Labor on December 20, 2001.

$6.75 billion = 2000 Private Sector Unions Collect From Members:

= .45 X 15 billion

45% was last DOL estimation (in 1987) per NILRR Statistics on Unions dated December 7, 1999

$5.4 billion = 2000 Estimated Union Forced-Dues

= .80 X 6.75 billion

DOL ceased publication of this % estimate in 1982. But in 1982, approximately 80% of union contracts contained some requirement that employees pay union dues as a condition of employment. This figure was re-verified by BNA in 1995.

(Per December 7, 1999 NILRR Statistics on Unions.)

Almost 10 million = 2000 Private Sector Employees Covered by Union Contracts

9,968.5 is figure given for covered union membership among private sector

workers in 2000 in BNA Union Data Book copyright 2001.

8 million = 2000 Private Sector Employees Laboring Under Forced Dues Contracts

= .80 X 10 million

DOL ceased publication of this % estimate in 1982. But in 1982, approximately 80% of union contracts contained some requirement that employees pay union dues as a condition of employment. This figure was re-verified by BNA in 1995

(Per December 7, 1999 NILRR Statistics on Unions.)

$675 = 2000 Union Collection from Average Forced-Dues Covered Employee

$6.75 billion/10.0 million = $675

$3.46 billion = 2000 Payroll Expenses of Private Sector Unions

$2.28 billion X 1.5158636 = $3.456169 billion

Derived by multiplying 1987 figure, $2.28 billion, (last time supplied by DOL per

NILRR Statistics on Union dated 12/7/99) by the 2000 CPI differential

(516/340.4=1.5158636).

$95 million = 1991-92 Union PAC Expenditures

Per Dec 7, 1999 Statistics on Unions NILRR

$128.7 million = 1999-00 Union PAC Expenditures

$128,692,390 per www.fec.gov/press/053101pacfund/tables/pacsp00.htm