Total union membership has been declining steadily since the 1950s .



For the first time in U.S. history more public sector employees (7.9 million) belong to a union than do private sector employees (7.4 million), despite there being 5 times as many workers in the private sector.




This pivotal event in the history of American labor results from consistent and disparate trends.  The percentage of total and private sector workers who are members of a union has been declining steadily.





But the percentage of Government employees affiliated with unions has been static and rising modestly for decades. 




Commentary on the economic and political forces driving these starkly different trends is to follow.