UAW membership tops 400,000 for first time since 2008

The UAW eclipsed 400,000 members for the first time since 2008, drawing new members and dues last year from the resurgent automotive industry, suppliers in the South and higher education employees.

It was the fifth straight year the union saw a membership gain, reporting more than 12,000 new members last year and 403,000 members total, according to an annual report it must file each March with the U.S. Department of Labor.

The union now represents more than 10,000 workers in the gaming industry and 25,000 higher education workers.

"As the UAW grows, our members are better able to take care of their families and support their communities," UAW President Dennis Williams said in a statement today. "We understand success and quality products are helping UAW members build a better future for all Americans."

The union's 3% gain in 2014 is among its largest jumps in recent years, said Kristin Dziczek, director of the labor and industry group for the Center for Automotive Research.

"It shows they are picking up some momentum even though they are a long way off from where they were during the downturn," Dziczek said.

The UAW currently represents about 137,000 workers at General Motors, Ford and FCA US (previously Chrysler), up from about 112,000 in 2011. Last year, the union also won organizing victories that included 1,000 employees at Horseshoe Casino Cleveland and 2,100 UConn graduate employees at the University of Connecticut.

"They have had some success in organizing, but I don't think they have turned the corner yet," said Arthur Schwartz, president of Labor and Economics Associates in Ann Arbor.

The UAW's membership recent gains are relatively modest compared with its historic membership levels. Just a decade ago, the UAW had more than 650,000 members. Its peak was 1.5 million in 1979.

In Chattanooga, Tenn., the UAW has won the right to represent more than half of Volkswagen's hourly workers who have joined UAW Local 42. However, the UAW is not the exclusive bargaining agent and those members are not dues paying members.

"They need still need to organize a transplant," Schwartz said, in reference to a Asian or German automaker with a U.S. assembly plant. "That's what they need to really turn the corner."

The UAW was hit hard during the 2000s as GM, Ford and Chrysler closed plants and shed tens of thousands of employees before and during their financial restructurings.

Nationally, union membership has declined dramatically over the past three to four decades.

The union membership rate for all unions in the U.S. was 11.1% last year, or 14.6 million workers, according to the Department of Labor. In 1983, the membership rate was 20.1% and there were 17.7 million union workers.

Union membership has been under pressure from right-to-work laws passed in 25 states that allow workers at employers with union representation to opt out of dues.

The UAW's membership losses, and its struggle to organize new workers, has put an immense strain on its finances.

The union disclosed that its total assets dropped to $978.1 million in 2014, down $11 million from $989.9 million in 2013.

Last week, UAW Secretary-Treasurer Gary Casteel told union delegates attending a two-day bargaining conference that the union has lost money each year for at least the past five years, but is on the road to financial recovery.

In 2014, the UAW lost $10 million, Casteel revealed in a short presentation. But 2014 was a big improvement over 2010 when the union lost $42 million.

Casteel said the UAW's finances are improving in part because it has reduced its professional staff by 115 employees since 2010. The UAW employs about 670, down from 785 in 2010.

"I predict that we will have a balanced budget … for the first time in many years this coming year," Casteel said.

Contact Brent Snavely: 313-222-6512 or bsnavely@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrentSnavely.

UAW membership 2001-2014

2014: 403,466

2013: 391,415

2012: 382,513

2011: 380,719

2010: 376,612

2009: 355,191

2008: 431,037

2007: 464,910

2006: 538,448

2005: 557,099

2004: 654,657

2003: 638,722

2002: 701,818

2001: 671,853

Source: U.S. Department of Labor