Amazon warehouse workers are pushing for union membership in Bessemer, Alabama, a move their employer is bitterly opposed to. Amazon has been criticized heavily for its working conditions during the pandemic and if the warehouse workers manage to unionize, it would mark the creation of the e-commerce giant's very first union in the United States.
Trade union membership has experienced a significant decline in the U.S. over the past four decades. Back in 1983, the membership rate was 20.1 percent and it fell to just 10.8 percent in 2020. There is a significant difference in membership between states and a total of 30 (and the District of Columbia) have membership rates below the U.S. average of 10.8 percent.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Hawaii had the highest rate of union membership in 2020 at 23.7 percent, followed by New York with 22 percent. The two Carolinas were bottom for the bottom of the membership league with South Carolina's rate just 2.9 percent while North Carolina's was 3.1 percent.
