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JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Laborers’ Union Local 368 members held signs and chatted with Kirk Caldwell, a mayoral candidate who supports the city’s rail project, before an informational meeting on the system Tuesday at McKinley High School.
In Hawaii 121,000 workers were covered by collective bargaining agreements in 2013, comprising 22.1 percent of wage and salary workers in the state.
The figure places Hawaii at third in the nation in the percentage of workers who are union members.
Hawaii’s 22.1 percent compares to 11.3 percent nationwide, and is an increase from 21.6 percent in 2012.
Hawaii has exceeded the national average since figures became available in 1989, a year when the state’s unionized workers totaled 29.9 percent of the workforce was a "series high," according to Richard Holden, regional commissioner for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
