Hawaii’s union membership was the highest in the nation in 2024 with 26.5% of employed wage and salary workers belonging to collective-bargaining units, according to a recent report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The state’s union representation far exceeded the nationwide average of 9.9% — a record low for the U.S. Runners-up to Hawaii’s 2024 membership rate were New York at 20.6% and Alaska at 17.7%. The lowest state rate came from North Carolina, at 2.4%.
Since 1989, when union membership data by state has became available, Hawaii has consistently been above the national averages, but it has yet to reach its series peak of the same year, when its rate was 29.9%.
The 2024 rate is a 2.4-percentage-point increase from 2023 but continues a steady trend of Hawaii leading nationally ranked membership rates in recent years. In 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022, the state topped the leaderboard, keeping Hawaii’s legacy of holding a high union membership density. There were 147,000 union members in Hawaii in 2024.
Since August, Hawaii hotel workers, nurses and United Airlines flight attendants have staged strikes around the state that generally seek better working contracts.
In September more than 1,800 hotel workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 5 went on a 40-day strike at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, reaching a contract deal in November.
The Hawaii Nurses’ Association also has held strikes around the state, including one at Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children in September when hundreds of nurses were locked out of the hospital for 18 days following more than a year of negotiations. In January about 160 nurses at Wilcox Medical Center in Lihue went on a three-day strike just as nurses at The Queen’s Medical Center ratified a new three-year contract.
Unions continue to be a highly debated topic in Hawaii, as a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives aiming to address nurse staffing standards at Hawaii hospitals was shelved in February by the House Committees on Health and Labor.
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
The percentage of employed people in unions by state in 2024:
1. Hawaii 26.5%
2. New York 20.6%
3. Alaska 17.7%
4. Connecticut 16.5%
5. New Jersey 16.2%
6.Washington 16.0%
7. Oregon 15.9%
8. Massachusetts 14.6%
9. California 14.5%
10. Rhode Island 14.5%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
