Connecticut public sector union membership declined by 5.8 percent in 2024, with New York knocking the state out of its previous top spot, according to new data from Unionstats.com.
The figures, based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 Current Population Survey, show that 61.2 percent of Connecticut’s state and local government employees belong to a union — down from 67.0 percent in 2023.
It’s a steep fall from where things once stood for Connecticut’s public sector unions. The 2024 numbers mark the state’s ninth weakest showing in nearly a quarter century — a far cry from the 74.1 percent unionization rate recorded in 2020, the highest level since 1983 when state-specific statistics first became available.
Despite a drop in public sector union membership, overall unionization in Connecticut edged up slightly in 2024, with 16.5 percent of the state’s total workforce belonging to a union — a 0.7 percentage point increase from the previous year.
This slight bump was enough to push Connecticut into the fourth spot nationally for union share of the workforce, up from fifth in 2023.
It also bucks the national trend. Even though unions have seen record high approval ratings and an increase in elections for union representation at the National Labor Relations Board, overall union membership in the U.S. fell to a record low of 9.9 percent in 2024.
Hawaii topped the nation in overall union membership in 2024, with 26.6 percent of its workforce unionized, followed by New York and Alaska. At the other end of the spectrum, South Carolina, South Dakota, and North Carolina saw the lowest unionization rates — each under 3 percent.
Private sector unionization in Connecticut remained comparatively low, with 8.2 percent of private employees in unions, including 8.7 percent in construction and 12 percent in manufacturing, according to the data.
Have No Fear. The Labor Committee is Doing its Part to Help Beef Up the Numbers
Union membership may be slipping in the public sector, but the Labor and Public Employees Committee appears determined to help their friends in big labor stop the bleeding.
On March 13, the committee voted along party lines to advance legislation that will deliver more than 1,200 temporary state employees directly into the hands of public-sector unions — no organizing necessary. The legislation mandates that temporary workers be included in the same collective bargaining units as permanent employees performing similar work, effectively expanding union rolls by legislative decree.
The bill doesn’t require these temporary workers to vote for union representation. It simply allows the “exclusive representative” of an existing bargaining unit to absorb them, sidestepping the usual organizing process. No campaign, no election — just automatic membership. For unions facing long-term declines, it’s an easy way to help reverse the slide.
And the bill doesn’t just pad member rolls — it sets the stage for even more dues collection down the line. Union leaders made no secret of the long game: turning temporary workers into permanent ones, creating a pipeline of full-time state employees who pay union dues year-round instead of just during summer stints.
Testimony from union leaders makes their intent clear: they need the committee to assist them in their organizing efforts.
Ed Hawthorne, president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, touted the bill’s potential to create a reliable stream of dues revenue by helping these workers “transition into permanent full-time positions.”
According to Zak Leavy, legislative associate director for AFSCME Council 4, the bill will let the state “retain workers that are already trained and move them into permanent positions.” In other words, turn temporary employees into full-time dues paying union members.
For unions hemorrhaging members, using legislation to convert short-term help into long-term revenue isn’t just clever — it’s calculated. And with a union-friendly Labor Committee leading the charge, it’s a strategy that’s unfortunately working.
Yankee Institute labor fellow Frank Ricci sounded the alarm in his testimony opposing the bill, calling out the bill for what it is.
“S.B. No. 1486 appears to be a questionable attempt to expand union influence into the realm of temporary employment, with potential negative consequences for both employees and taxpayers,” said Ricci. “It is crucial to carefully examine the motivations behind such legislation and assess its potential impacts on the workforce and public finances.”
During the committee meeting, Sen. Julie Kushner (D-Danbury) recounted a conversation with a seasonal lifeguard from her district who’s worked summers for nearly a decade. According to Sen. Kushner, the young man now supervises other lifeguards and told her he and his coworkers have “no say” over their working conditions. What they need, he said, is collective bargaining.
Rather than raise concerns about poor management or lack of internal oversight, Sen. Kushner — herself a former union organizer — used the anecdote to justify expanding collective bargaining rights to seasonal workers like lifeguards. No call for agency reform, no push for better accountability — just unionization by default.
She then endorsed the bill on behalf of the lifeguard who didn’t even testify, based solely on a secondhand conversation, which raises questions on her neutrality.
This legislative push isn’t happening in a vacuum. Groups like the Center for American Progress (CAP), a left-wing union backed think tank, are openly encouraging state lawmakers to grow union membership by expanding bargaining rights to more categories of public employees, specifically, temporary workers.
In a January 2025 report titled “7 Ways State Lawmakers Can Build Public Sector Union Power,” CAP is urging legislatures to treat temporary state employees the same as full-time workers, allowing unions to absorb them into bargaining units without elections.
Supporters framed this bill as a matter of fairness and worker dignity — but it’s not hard to see who really benefits. Public sector unions in Connecticut have lost almost 13 percentage points of membership since 2020. Bills like this won’t bring back the heyday of 74 percent unionization, but they’re a desperate attempt by union-backed lawmakers to rig the system and force taxpayers to subsidize their political allies.
The bill now heads to the Office of Fiscal Analysis, where lawmakers are waiting to find out what it will actually cost taxpayers. But cost doesn’t seem to be the driving concern here. For union-aligned lawmakers, the priority isn’t fiscal responsibility or good governance — it’s delivering for their allies in organized labor. And if that means bypassing elections, absorbing temporary workers into bargaining units, and inflating long-term obligations to bolster the ranks of public-sector unions, so be it. In Connecticut, the real collective bargaining is happening between lawmakers and the unions that help keep them in office.
