Union workers hold up a signs during a rally outside the Capitol in Lansing, Mich., Dec. 6. | AP PhotoLANSING, Mich. (AP) - The federal government says the unionized share of Michigan's workforce has fallen from 17.5% to 16.6% in the latest year, but the state's rate of union membership remains higher than the nation's.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released unionization data Wednesday for 2012. It says that 629,000 Michigan workers were union members in 2012, compared with 671,000 in 2011.
Michigan's Republican Legislature and governor have approved "right-to-work" legislation banning mandatory union fees for workers covered by collective bargaining agreements.
The nationwide unionization rate was 11.3% in 2012, down from 11.8% the year before.
State union membership rates ranged from 23.2% in New York to 2.9% in North Carolina last year.
Online:
Union membership by state: http://1.usa.gov/YoAjuN
Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov
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