Alaska's union workforce: built to weather fiscal storms.

• Author: Beltrami, Vince
• Position: UNIONS

Alaska's union members are working all over Alaska, some in jobs you'd expect and others in places you might not. In fact, about one in five workers in Alaska belongs to a union. While the economy is hemorrhaging jobs at present, Alaska still has the third highest union density of any state in the union. The Alaska AFL-CIO is Alaska's largest labor organization, with a little more than 50,000 workers holding membership in our fifty-five affiliated unions.

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Public Safety, Transportation & Tourism: State troopers, firefighters, and workers for the Alaska Railroad--the folks running heavy equipment to move snow and clear roads-all are union members. Hopping on Alaska airlines? Ticket agents, baggage handlers, flight attendants, and the pilots you entrust your life to when you step into the fuselage: all are members of unions. And so are Alaska Marine Highway workers, bus drivers at Denali, and many hotel and restaurant workers.

Customer Service: Step into a city or state office building. Whether you are getting your license or registration renewed, need help with your permanent fund dividend application, or are in need of many other important and essential services, it is likely those state and municipal workers helping you are union members. And of course, our nurses and other healthcare workers offer the ultimate in customer service when you need it most.

Education: Teachers, professors, and support staff at our schools, universities, and voc-ed facilities are entrusted to prepare our children for successful futures at one end and for guiding our best and brightest through advanced degrees within our university system. And they belong.

Utilities: Gas, electric, water, and telecommunications workers make sure their systems keep you comfortable, clean, and warm and keep you connected with family, work, and a vast digital world.

Construction and More: Alaska's building trades union members have been building Alaska from the beginning, including buildings, roads, bridges, pipelines, mines, and more.

There are many more union workers than listed above, but you get the point. In nearly every aspect of work that goes on in Alaska, private or public sector, Alaska's union members are on the front lines.

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In the past twenty-four months, Alaska's union workers and non-union workers alike have taken a bit of a beating. Our membership rolls are down a little over 10 percent. But...