Data shows that while union membership across the country is eroding, the number of unionized workers in government jobs is on the rise, both in Pennsylvania and nationally.
More than 45 percent of the 
unionized workers in Pennsylvania last year held government jobs. That's actually down slightly from a high-water mark of 48 percent in 2006, but the general trend over the last twenty-five years shows a clear shift as unions have become more entrenched in the public sector than ever before.
More than 70 percent of union workers in Pennsylvania held private sector jobs in 1984. Since then, private sector unions have seen nearly a 50 percent decline in membership, while public sector unions in the Commonwealth have grown by nineteen percent during the same period.
Despite the common imagery of unions predominantly in manufacturing and industrial jobs, that's simply not the case any longer. According to data released by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics last month, 52 percent of union workers in the country are now in the public sector, marking the first time ever that private sector union workers make up a minority of the total.
"There has been steady growth among union members in the public sector, but I'm a little bit shocked to see that the lines have actually crossed," said Randel K. Johnson, senior vice president for labor at the United States Chamber of Commerce.
Last year also marked an overall decline in union membership across the nation, as only 12 percent of Americans now belong to labor unions, compared with 24 percent in 1984. On the whole, only 7.2 percent of private sector American workers are members of unions, the lowest total since 1900, according to labor historians.
Pennsylvania, however, remains one of the most heavily unionized states in the nation, with 16 percent of Pennsylvanians being represented by some form of labor union last year. Only California, New York, and Illinois have more union members than Pennsylvania.
But the decline in union membership is a reality in Pennsylvania too. In 1984, more than 1.23 million people in the Commonwealth were represented by a union, while in 2009 there were only 844,000 workers represented.
Yet in an era where union membership as a whole is seeing a steady decline, the number of unionized employees in the public sector continues to grow. Only 293,000 public sector workers were members of unions in 1984, but in 2009 that total had risen to more than 351,000.
"This shift has transformed the labor movement. Some historians argue that unions were created to prevent profit-minded employers from exploiting workers and to win workers a share of business profits. However, neither of these purposes makes sense in government," said James Sherk, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. "Collective bargaining gives government employees the power to tell voters how to spend their tax dollars instead of the other way around."
As recently as 1959, the AFL-CIO Executive Council held a firm stance against unionization in government work, stating that "government workers have no right [to collectively bargain] beyond the authority to petition Congress--a right available to every citizen." Former ALF-CIO President George Meany wrote, "It is impossible to bargain collectively with the government."
The influence of unions in the public sector contributes to the fact that, nationally, government workers made an average of 39.83 an hour in wages last year, compared with just 27.49 per hour for workers in the private sector, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Eric Boehm is a reporter for the Pennsylvania Independent. He can be reached at Eric@PAIndependent.com