As wages stagnate, as companies cut back on health insurance and pensions and as work hours grow longer, more and more workers want a voice on the job with a union.

There were 15.4 million union members in the United States in 2006. The AFL-CIO represents 10.5 million working men and women, including 2 million members in Working America, its new community affiliate.

Two and a half million workers have formed new unions since 1996, showing that steady dedication and perseverance is laying the groundwork for greater change in America’s workplaces and communities.

Independent polling shows that as many as 58 million workers in America would join a union if they had a chance—but few ever get that chance because employers routinely block workers’ efforts to improve their lives through unions. Increasingly, elected leaders, community groups and religious leaders are demanding that companies stop breaking the law and hindering workers’ efforts to form unions.

Percentage of Workers Who Belong to Unions, 1995-2006
Membership as a Percentage of Payrolls

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.