Organized labor may have weathered a long storm of declining membership, but according to an annual union membership report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) today, 2008 saw some gains.

In all, there were 16.1 million union members on the employment rolls at the end of last year, amounting to 12.4 percent of the U.S. workforce. This represents an increase of 420,000 new members. Membership grew most -- by nearly a full percentage point -- in the public sector, to 36.8 percent.

For workers, the wage benefits of joining are unmistakable.  The report found that "among full-time wage and salary workers, union members had median usual weekly earnings of $886 while those who were not represented by unions had median weekly earnings of $691."

Ben Zipperer, a senior research associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), adds some historical context:

In 2008, union employment successfully weathered the beginnings of what may be the most severe recession in the post-World War II period. Compared to the historical trend of U.S. union membership, even in times of labor market strength, the membership gains in 2008 stand out. The statistically significant rise from 12.1 to 12.4 percent, approaching nearly half a million members, is the largest on record since 1983, the first year for which comparable data are available. Except for last year’s increase and a small uptick in 2007, union membership has otherwise fallen or stagnated annually from 20.1 percent in 1983.

Indeed, last year's gains do not lessen the need for the Employee Free Choice Act.

“The large majority of growth,” writes CEPR Senior Economist John Schmitt over email, “appears to have taken place outside the current company-controlled election process -- either in the public sector, where the NLRB [National Labor Relations Board] has no jurisdiction, or in areas within the private sector (health, hotels, etc.) where unions have, in recent years, increasingly spurned the NLRB process in favor of other organizing strategies.”

In other words, workers choose to organize when they’re not subjected to anti-union fearmongering from their employers. EFCA would make it much harder for bosses to manipulate the NLRB process in order to intimidate those employees interested in unionizing.

A recent story from WBEZ’s Chip Mitchell story illuminated why employer control of union elections is so problematic.  He talked with IBEW Local 21’s Dave Webster about their recent campaign to organize employees at the telecom giant Comcast:

WEBSTER: We spent many hours here, handing out leaflets, talking to workers … and convincing many of them to sign cards saying they wanted the union to negotiate their wages, benefits and work conditions.

Comcast didn’t recognize the union.

That led the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election to see what the workers wanted. The balloting didn’t happen for almost six weeks. Webster says the company took advantage of that lag.

WEBSTER: Comcast would plant supervisors to stand out here and watch which workers were taking the flyers, which workers were talking to organizers and basically scare them with their job so that they wouldn’t talk to union organizers.

The union lost the election by 20 votes.

Meanwhile, the business community continues to gear up for a big fight over EFCA. Huffington Post’s Sam Stein reported yesterday that, just three days after receiving $25 billion in federal bailout funds, Bank of America Corp. hosted a conference call with conservative activists and business officials to organize opposition to the bill. “This is the demise of a civilization,” Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus said on the call. “This is how a civilization disappears.”

The Service Employees International Union (whose Illinois State Council sponsors this website) yesterday called on Bank of America Ken Lewis to step down. In an email to supporters, they highlighted the extreme disparity between worker and executive pay at the company:

It seems Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis forgot about the 247,000 people who make his company successful. In 20076, Lewis took home $99 million, more than 4,000 times what his average employee makes. In some states, Bank of America employees take up large portions of public health care because they don’t earn enough money.

Someone needs to stand up for Bank of America employees, because the company sure isn’t. It’s time for Ken Lewis to go.

The news of Bank of America's anti-EFCA organizing is sure to only fuel the fire.