RALEIGH, N.C. -- Union membership in North Carolina is continuing a steady decline thanks to the economic downturn, falling by 14,000 in 2004.

Just 2.7 percent of employees in the state counted as union members in 2004. Since 1995, when the federal government began tracking union membership by state, North Carolina labor organizations have lost 35,000 dues-paying members, or 26 percent of its membership.

The state has the lowest union enrollment rate in the nation.

Union officials from 12 Southern states met in Atlanta this week to discuss strategies to increase their memberships in a region that's historically shunned organized labor.

Among proposals the group will make to the national A.F.L. - C.I.O. is to put paid staffers in the field to lead organizing efforts.

Nationally, union membership dropped from 12.9 percent to 12.5 percent last year. That's down from a high of 20 percent in 1983.

Source:  WRAL.com