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For Immediate Release
January, 20 2022, 03:57pm EDT
Thursday January, 20 2022, 03:57pm EDT
Contact:
KL Conner, conner@
Widespread Union Organizing in 2021 Not Enough to Reverse Membership Decline, says CEPR Expert
WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON - In response to the disappointing decline in union membership reported today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), CEPR's Research Associate Hayley Brown responds with these comments:
"Union membership shares returned to 2019 levels in 2021, declining by half a percentage point to 10.3 percent from their notable uptick in 2020. The unionization rate fell in both the public and private sectors between 2020 and 2021, by 0.9 and 0.3 percentage points, respectively. Compared to 2019, however, union density in the public sector increased by 0.3 percentage points. Union density in manufacturing remained flat, in keeping with its downward trend toward the private sector average.
"Though it is disappointing that 2020's uptick in union density did not continue in 2021, it would be a mistake to assume that 2021 marked a return to business as usual for the labor movement.
"First, it is important to note that, amid the massive pandemic-related job loss in 2020, proportionately more nonunion workers lost jobs than union workers. As a result, union members made up a larger share of those who remained employed.
"Second, while the massive organizing wave implied by "Striketober" coverage may not be immediately apparent in today's BLS release, 2021 was a banner year for unions in some important respects.
"Unions' favorability rating among the American public reached the highest level since 1965. The highest approval was found among workers under the age of 35, with over 77 percent of those in this age group expressing positive views toward labor unions. Yet in 2021, less than 10 percent of workers in this age group were union members. This represents a unique opportunity to build on enthusiasm among younger generations of workers to grow union membership and worker power in the years to come.
"Nevertheless, significant barriers still exist to building collective worker power. Passing legislation like the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act that removes obstacles to organizing is especially important to allow workers to build on the historic momentum generated during the pandemic."
CEPR's Hayley Brown is available for press comment.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) will release a detailed analysis and visualizations of the 2021 union membership data in a forthcoming report.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) was established in 1999 to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives. In order for citizens to effectively exercise their voices in a democracy, they should be informed about the problems and choices that they face. CEPR is committed to presenting issues in an accurate and understandable manner, so that the public is better prepared to choose among the various policy options.
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Trump EPA 'Hitting New Heights of Absurdity' With Plan to Reapprove Pesticide Dicamba
"This is what happens when pesticide oversight is controlled by industry lobbyists," said one campaigner.
Jul 23, 2025
Despite U.S. President Donald Trump's supposed goal to "Make America Healthy Again," his administration is moving to reregister dicamba, a pesticide twice banned by federal courts, for use on genetically engineered cotton and soybeans.
In response to legal challenges from the Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety, National Family Farm Coalition, and the Pesticide Action Network, courts ruled against the herbicide's registration in 2020 and again last year.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced its latest push to allow the use of dicamba on Wednesday, detailing proposed mitigation efforts—including temperature restrictions and the use of drift reduction agents—that EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou told The Washington Post would "minimize impact to certain species and the environment."
The EPA's proposed registration is now open for public comment until August 22, but supporters and critics are already weighing in. While the pesticide companies welcomed the agency's attempt to allow dicamba products from BASF, Bayer, and Syngenta, the advocacy groups behind the court battles sharply called out the Trump administration.
"EPA has had seven long years of massive drift damage to learn that dicamba cannot be used safely with GE dicamba-resistant crops," said Bill Freese, science director at the Center for Food Safety, in a statement.
"If we allow these proposed decisions to go through, farmers and residents throughout rural America will again see their crops, trees, and home gardens decimated by dicamba drift, and natural areas like wildlife refuges will also suffer," he warned. "EPA must reverse course and withdraw its plans to reapprove this hazardous herbicide."
Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity, declared that "Trump's EPA is hitting new heights of absurdity by planning to greenlight a pesticide that's caused the most extensive drift damage in U.S. agricultural history and twice been thrown out by federal courts."
"This is what happens when pesticide oversight is controlled by industry lobbyists," he charged. "Corporate fat cats get their payday and everyone else suffers the consequences."
The centers pointed out that "the decision to seek reapproval comes less than a month after Kyle Kunkler, a former lobbyist for the American Soybean Association, was installed as the deputy assistant administrator for pesticides in the EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. The ASA has been a vocal cheerleader for dicamba since its initial approval for use on soybeans in 2016, despite the fact that soybeans have been the most widely damaged crop."
The Post asked the EPA whether Kunkler's recent appointment influenced the dicamba decision. In response, Vaseliou said that the "EPA follows the federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act when registering pesticides" and any insinuation otherwise was "further 'journalism' malpractice by The Washington Post."
After Kunkler's new job was made public last month, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) also flagged his "years of advocating against restrictions on farm chemicals such as glyphosate and atrazine," and stressed that "these are the very pesticides singled out in Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 'Make America Healthy Again' report for their potential links to chronic illness in children."
"The appointment of Kyle Kunkler sends a loud, clear message: Industry influence is back in charge at the EPA," said EWG president Ken Cook at the time. "It's a stunning reversal of the campaign promises Trump and RFK Jr. made to their MAHA followers—that they'd stand up to chemical giants and protect children from dangerous pesticides."
"To those who genuinely believed the MAHA movement would lead to meaningful change on toxic exposures: We understand the hope," he said. "But hope doesn't regulate pesticides. People with power do. And this pick all but guarantees the status quo will remain untouched."
Cook—whose group has also sounded the alarm about dicamba—concluded that Kunkler's EPA post "is but the latest example of the Trump administration's sweeping betrayal of environmental protection and public health."
'Huge Win for the American People' as House Subcommittee Votes to Subpoena Epstein Docs
"The public deserves to know who was complicit in Epstein's heinous crimes, including people with immense power in our government," said the top House Oversight Committee Democrat.
Jul 23, 2025
A congressional subcommittee voted Wednesday to subpoena the U.S. Department of Justice to hand over files related to deceased convicted child sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, thwarting an apparent effort by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to delay further action on the matter until after summer recess.
The House Oversight Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement voted 8-2 on a motion by Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) to subpoena the DOJ for all records related to the investigation into Epstein. The longtime former friend of President Donald Trump was convicted of procuring a child for prostitution in 2008 and faced federal child sex trafficking charges at the time of his suspicious 2019 jailhouse death, which was officially ruled a suicide.
"Numerous members of this committee and this subcommittee have called for answers and transparency," said Lee, the top Democrat on the subcommittee. "So let's do something about it."
In addition to Lee, the motion was backed by Oversight Committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) and Reps. Wesley Bell (D-Mo.), Brian Jack (R-Ga.), Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.).
"Today, Oversight Democrats fought for transparency and accountability on the Epstein files and won," Garcia said in a statement. "House Republicans didn't make it easy, but the motion was finally passed to force the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files."
"Let's be clear: This is a huge win for the American people," he added. "The public deserves to know who was complicit in Epstein's heinous crimes, including people with immense power in our government. Today's vote was just the first step toward accountability, and we will continue pushing for the truth."
Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) must now sign the subpoena so it may be officially issued to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Comer agreed to subpoena Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell—who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for child sex trafficking and other crimes as part of Epstein's alleged operation—following a separate Oversight subcommittee's vote on Tuesday.
Johnson (La.) on Tuesday said the lower chamber would adjourn on Wednesday, one day earlier than scheduled. Critics called the move a blatant attempt to thwart a vote on the Epstein documents, pointing to other recent moves, including the House Rules Committee blocking an amendment that would have forced the DOJ to release the full files to the public, as proof of GOP stonewalling.
Epstein allegedly ran a sex trafficking network involving underage girls, whom he is accused of flying aboard his personal jet—dubbed the "Lolita Express"—to his private island, Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the billionaire financier and his guests abused the children.
Trump partied with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s and flew on the "Lolita Express" numerous times—although there is no evidence that he ever visited Little St. James or was involved in any of Epstein's crimes. Still, the president has appeared eager to move on from the issue after he and key members of his administration repeatedly advocated for the release of the Epstein files. Trump has accused Democrats of amplifying the Epstein "hoax" and has derided his supporters demanding full disclosure of all related documents as "weaklings."
Apparently confirming what estranged Trump adviser Elon Musk and others have asserted, Bondi informed the president in May that his name appears in the Epstein files, according to Wall Street Journal reporting published Wednesday. Trump is suing the paper and two reporters, as well as parent company News Corp and its founder Rupert Murdoch, over reporting about a bawdily illustrated letter Trump allegedly wrote for Epstein.
Asked by CNN Wednesday whether her constituents care about the Epstein case, Lee replied, "Yes, I think the American people want transparency."
"At the end of the day, we have to send a message that whether you are the littlest guy or you are the most powerful person in this nation, that if you commit a crime, if you do things that we aren't supposed to do, that there will be some accountability," she added. "Right now, if we don't vote on this, or if we don't release these files, we're sending a message that if you are a powerful abuser... you'll be covered."
Vanuatu Rips US-Led Fossil Fuel Expansion After Landmark World Court Ruling
"Even as fossil fuel expansion continues under the U.S.' influence... major polluters—past and present—cannot continue to act with impunity and treat developing countries as sacrifice zones to further feed corporate greed."
Jul 23, 2025
Vanuatu's government on Wednesday hailed the landmark International Court of Justice advisory opinion that countries have a legal obligation to take cooperative action against the "urgent and existential threat" of human-caused planetary heating, while demanding an end to the impunity enjoyed by major polluters including the United States, which is leading an ecocidal fossil fuel expansion under President Donald Trump.
The ruling by the ICJ—a United Nations organ also known as the World Court—states that "climate change is a common concern" and "cooperation is not a matter of choice for states but a pressing need and a legal obligation."
Furthermore, the tribunal underscored that "nompliance with emission-reduction commitments by a state may constitute an internationally wrongful act," suggesting a legal mechanism for reparations for countries suffering loss and damage from climate harms caused by wealthier polluters.
Vanuatu Minister of Climate Change Adaptation, Meteorology and Geo-Hazards, Energy, Environment, and Disaster Management Ralph Regenvanu said in a statement that "the ICJ ruling marks an important milestone in the fight for climate justice."
"We now have a common foundation based on the rule of law, releasing us from the limitations of individual nations' political interests that have dominated climate action," he noted. "This moment will drive stronger action and accountability to protect our planet and peoples."
"The nations most responsible for emissions should be held accountable."
"Even as fossil fuel expansion continues under the U.S.' influence, along with the loss of climate finance and technology transfer, and the lack of climate ambition following the U.S.' withdrawal from the Paris agreement, major polluters—past and present—cannot continue to act with impunity and treat developing countries as sacrifice zones to further feed corporate greed," he continued.
"The Global South is bearing the brunt of a crisis it did not create," Regenvanu stressed. "Families are losing their homes, entire cultures are at risk of disappearing, and lives are being shattered by man-made climate disasters. The nations most responsible for emissions should be held accountable for any violations of legal obligations and they must also step up and lead in providing resources and support to aid those most affected."
"A victory in the world's highest court is just the beginning," he added. "Success will depend on what happens next through coordinated efforts across diplomacy, politics, litigation, and advocacy to turn this moment into a true turning point."
While some of the world's biggest polluters pursue fossil-fueled energy agendas, low-lying Pacific island nations including Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and the self-governing New Zealand territory of Niue are working to draft a fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty (FFNPT). Such an accord would aim to end the expansion and phase out production of fossil fuels while ensuring a just transition to renewable energy. In 2023, California became the largest economy in the world to endorse a FFNPT.
Vanuatu was the first nation to endorse the FFNPT, having done so in 2022.
"Every day we are experiencing more debilitating consequences of the climate crisis," Vanuatu President Nikenike Vurobaravu said at the time. "Fundamental human rights are being violated, and we are measuring climate change not in degrees of Celsius or tons of carbon, but in human lives. This emergency is of our own making."
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