By Brian Lyman | Editor
“We're proud of the work our folks do, and hopefully, and maybe we can get the message across to them (corporations) that we're not the damn enemy. We want a partner.” - Bren Riley, president, Alabama AFL-CIO
A youngster holds up a pro-union sign at Laborfest in Milwaukee on Labor Day, Sept. 2, 2024. (Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner)
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
By Andrea Tinker
Alabama union membership continued a decline last year, falling from about 140,000 in 2024 (about 6.6% of the workforce) to 131,000 (about 6.3%). The state was historically one of the most organized in the South due to the presence of manufacturing, and as late as 2015 over 10% of the workforce belonged to a union. But outsouring and the broader aging of workers have taken a toll.
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