Percentage of Mass. workers in unions stayed same last year

The percentage of Massachusetts workers who belong to unions remained constant at 14.2 percent last year even as the country's rate of union membership dropped to 12.9 percent in 2003, from 13.3 percent the year before.

Information released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the number of people who belong to unions fell by 369,000 over the past year to 15.8 million in 2003. Thirty-three states reported lower union membership rates. Fifteen states said union membership rose.

The decline in membership marked the lowest proportion of unionized workers since 1983, when the government began tracking labor growth, said Denis McSweeney, commissioner of the bureau's New England region.

"The loss of union membership is reflective of where the job growth has been over the past year," McSweeney said. "Nationally, industries that were heavily represented by unions did not see gains, and the biggest loser was manufacturing, which shed more than two million jobs. There were also losses within the auto industry and the public sector, including federal employees."

By contrast, Massachusetts lost 11,000 union jobs last year, many of them in manufacturing or the public sector. Economists said an even larger number of Bay State layoffs were in the technology and financial service sectors, industries with few unionized workers. Those losses balanced the decline in union jobs, they said.

Specialists said increased union activity within the healthcare industry also might have offset the drop in union jobs. For example, membership in the Massachusetts Nurses Association rose to about 20,000, up from 16,896 in 2002. And the Service Employees International Union Local 285 had 11,000 members in 2003, up from 8,700 in 2000. The local, which recently merged with another union, represents medical technicians, nurses' aides, registered nurses, and other medical staff.

"Certainly, in Massachusetts, the healthcare industry has been relatively strong over the last couple of years and that has been a significant factor in preventing the state from having a sharper downturn," said David Pace, an economist at Global Insight in Waltham. "Also, if there are more union jobs being added in healthcare, among nurses, for example, then that would counterbalance other losses."

Union representatives blamed the drop on private sector layoffs in manufacturing and other heavily unionized industries as well as the antilabor activities of some employers. They also criticized the Bush administration for removing collective bargaining rights from federal airport screeners and other Homeland Security workers. They maintained that the government's decision to offer tax breaks rather than increase aid to cities and states caused many city and state workers to lose jobs nationwide.

"The hemorrhaging of 3 million jobs, many of them manufacturing jobs, has affected the foundation of the modern labor movement," said Stewart Acuff, organizing director at the AFL-CIO. "The impact of the Bush treasury [tax] giveaway has also caused problems for cities and states. Thirdly, there has been a Bush assault on federal employee collective bargaining, and there is a continuing assault on the freedom of private workers to form unions and bargain."

Nationwide, last year's union declines stripped away a gain of 265,000 members reported in 1999, when the total unionized workforce rose to 16.5 million, marking the largest increase in 20 years. Even then, the percentage of union workers was far below what it had been in past years. In 1945, for example, more than 35 percent of the workforce was unionized. Structural changes in the economy such as the shift from industrial jobs to service positions have contributed to the drop in union membership.

Diane E. Lewis can be reached at dlewis@globe.com.