WASHINGTON (AP) -- United Auto Workers union membership has fallen below 500,000 for the first time since World War II, reflecting the massive restructuring undertaken by Detroit's automakers.
The union reports Friday in a filing with the Labor Department that it had 464,910 members by the end of 2007, compared with 538,448 in the end of 2006. UAW membership peaked in 1979 at 1.5 million, but has been dropping ever since.
Mike Smith, director of the Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University, says the last time the UAW had fewer than 500,000 members was in 1941. By 1945 UAW membership had surpassed one million.
General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC and their suppliers have cut tens of thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs in the last few years.
