US union membership declining in ‘right-to-work’ states, report reveals

Add another growing split to the increasingly divided United States: union membership.

US states that protect unions’ collective bargaining rights have experienced an increase in new union members, while states with anti-union “right to work” laws are responsible for declines in union members, a new report reveals.

The report on the state of unions by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found significant discrepancies between the 26 states in the US with “right to work” laws compared with the 24 states and Washington DC that protect collective bargaining rights.