The 400,000 drop in labor union membership announced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics last week is discouraging. The bigger story is that at the center of the drop is the decline in employment for public-sector workers, most notably local government workers. This has been the weakest sector of the economy.  And that largely reflects the decline in teachers. So, this is not so much about unions losing, but the continued lack of focus of American economic policy on maintaining investments for America’s future in the face of the ongoing weak economy. The myopic debates on the fiscal deficit and cutting budgets to meet the educational needs of America’s children (in order to preserve tax cuts for the currently wealthy) is not a plan to make America succeed in the long run.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) reported that today, 23 Brooklyn Cablevision workers were illegally fired after attempting to discuss the lack of good-faith bargaining by the company with their management and expressing support for their bargaining committee—protected activities by federal law. The CWA, which the workers voted to join a year ago, condemned the firings as an illegal and outrageous attack on the company’s hardworking employees. Last week, CWA had filed unfair labor practice charges, alleging bad-faith bargaining by Cablevision-Optimum.

As part of the bankruptcy process, the divisions of Hostess Brands are being auctioned off and, says David B. Durkee, international president of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM), “We are working diligently with potential new buyers on behalf of those workers affected by the ongoing process.”

The success of the new companies is dependent upon a turn-key restart of operations, which our highly skilled members are more than able to provide.

New York City school children with special physical, emotional and mental needs could be bused to school with general education students under New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s effort to cut student transportation costs, according to the New York Daily News.

Football is a dangerous sport by nature, but it doesn't have to be as dangerous as it is today.

The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) has awarded $100 million to Harvard Medical School for a 10-year study of player injuries and illnesses, including brain trauma. The study is funded under the collective bargaining agreement the players reached recently with the NFL. Its goal: to transform the health of current and retired players, whose lifespan averages 20 years less than men who are not professional football players.

While most states saw a decline in union membership in 2012, California bucked the trend as 100,000 new workers joined collective bargaining units. Pushing the growth were Latino workers and nurses, the Los Angeles Times reported today. Overall, 11.3% of America's workers are current union members, which is a smaller percentage from 2011, but in California, the number is closer to 18% and is growing. Other southwestern states, such as Nevada and Texas, are also seeing growth in union membership.

The union membership rate was 11.3% in 2012, down from 11.8% in 2011, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which released updated figures today. This decrease in union membership highlights the painful fact that people are working harder but are making less and less. 

One area that saw a significant loss was in the public sector. There are nearly 400,000 fewer union members, from teachers in the classroom to police and firefighters that keep us safe. In manufacturing, the jobs that have returned so far are largely low-wage, nonunion jobs. 

While New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg continues to vilify the striking drivers, bus matrons and the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) as "greedy villains" bankrupting the city, New York Daily News columnist Denis Hamill paints a real-life picture in a recent column. He profiles Vic and Lucy DiBitetto—a school bus driver and matron on the same Staten Island bus route caring for kids with autism, multiple sclerosis and physical and developmental challenges.

Public-sector workers in Charlotte, N.C., can now have their union dues deducted from their paychecks like other causes they support, with voluntary payroll deductions. Last week, the Charlotte City Council voted 6-5 to allow the checkoff. The North Carolina State AFL-CIO points out that denying workers dues checkoff is a favorite tactic for right-wing politicians to undermine labor unions' ability to organize.

The 18,000 members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) who've made our Twinkies and other classic snacks have a new ally in their struggle for their jobs and pensions and the brand's survival. The bakery workers' pension fund has engaged a prominent New York investment banking firm in connection with Hostess Brands' Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, BCTGM announced.