A Woman's Place Is In A Union

As UAW members watched the Big Three automakers beg for aid this week, the union itself has made concessions to help convince Congress that bailing out Detroit is the right thing to do. But some details, such as the UAW's jobs bank, give the impression that unions are all about fat cats taking money and doing very little.

If you're inclined to picture the typical union member as a white man in his 50s pulling in the big bucks in his manufacturing job in the Midwest, it's time to update your thinking. Thanks to a growing service sector, the face of union membership is changing. It's fast becoming female, with many members single moms.

For women workers, a new study finds that "joining a union raises a woman's wage as much as a full-year of college, and a union raises the chances a woman has health insurance by more than earning a four-year college degree."

And the study's author says that the face of union membership is changing. In 2007, 45% of union members were women, and it's likely that a single mother raising two kids is more 'typical' than an older white male breadwinner.

If present trends continue, by 2020 the majority of union members will be female.

_{Photo © David McNew/Getty Images} Related articles:

• Study Shows Unions Increase Wages and Benefits of Women Workers
• Women Union Members - The Changing Face of Union Membership