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I don't. I am a business owner. I don't like unions. Can't the people who believe in unfair trade come up with an intelligent response to back up thier beliefs other than the unions, the unions, the unions. A very small percentage of people in manufacturing are in unions and only few specific industries demise can be pegged to unions.

Ummmm....most of the union members are in government.

The percentage of union members in the private-sector labor force in 2001 was unchanged at 9.0%, while in the public sector it stood at 37.4%, down slightly from 37.5% in 2000.

Among states, New York (26.7%), Hawaii (23.9%), Alaska (22.0%), Michigan (21.8%), and New Jersey (19.6%) had the highest union membership rates in 2001. And half of all union members in the U.S. lived in six states: California, New York, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, according to BLS.

Union membership in the recession-battered manufacturing sector fell by 175,000 last year, while service-sector unions saw membership increase by 142,000. Public-sector unions added a net of 52,000 members, construction unions added 44,000 members, while transportation unions lost 66,000 members. (see table)

Demographically in 2001, men had a higher union membership rate (15.1%) than women (11.7%), while blacks had a higher rate of union membership (17%) than both whites (13%) and Hispanics (11.3%). Workers between the ages of 45 and 54 had the highest union membership rate at 18.9%, compared with 11.5% for workers between the ages of 25 and 34. The majority of union members (59.2%) were age 35 and older.

Union members also continued to enjoy significantly higher wages than non-union workers in 2001. Median weekly earnings for union members were $718 compared with $575 for non-union workers, which is about a 25% difference.