AFGE DEFIES THE MEMBERSHIP GROWTH ODDS

The Congress has severely restrained agency funding for years, which should mean that unions are finding it harder and harder to add more members. But AFGE has not only managed to beat the odds against growing again this year, but it has now extended its streak to 15 straight years of having more members than the year before. That is unprecedented in the federal sector and a tribute to the foresight, long range planning, and risk-taking boldness of its national leadership. AFGE just posted its latest LM-2 on the DOL.gov website showing that it grew by 6,500 total members to over 325,800 members.  It not only replaced all the members who retired, left government or moved into management, but it also reached new heights of success. A lot of experienced union leaders would argue that the single most important metric for measuring the success of a union is its membership growth.  If it is high and/or is on a long-term growth path that is about a sure a sign as one can get that the union is doing what the bargaining unit employees value.  In contrast, even if a union wins almost all its cases or banks tens of millions in surplus funds, is it really successful if the unit employees don’t continue to join in higher percentage? AFGE has membership problems like any other union, e.g., some locals that are unable to sign up more than 10% of the unit employees.  But its bottom line buys it time to solve that problem as well. (We also have to give a tip of the hat to NATCA that also just reported its fifth year of membership growth reaching a record high level of employee support.)