Why Buffalo Niagara unions are bucking the trend toward declining membership

Baristas in coffee shops. Resident doctors in hospitals. Workers at a veterinary center.

Workers in all of those fields have launched organizing campaigns in the last couple of years – some, such as the union push to organize Starbucks workers that started in Buffalo, have spread across the country.

And those workers now are joining the ranks of organized labor alongside traditional union members such as autoworkers, construction workers and nurses.

That is a big reason why the region’s percentage of unionized workers increased last year, bucking the trend nationally and across New York toward declining union membership.

In the Buffalo Niagara region, 23.5% of workers were union members last year, up from 20.1% the year before, according to Unionstats.com, which compiles annual data. By comparison, 20.6% of workers in New York state and only 10.3% of workers nationwide were union members last year.

The statistics are a reminder of organized labor’s presence in Western New York, even as the profile of union members is changing.

“Historically, Buffalo has always been a union town,” said Peter DeJesus, president of the Western New York Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. “It’s not only the historical context of it, it’s having the public on our side in a lot of these issues, as well.”

That gives union organizers an advantage in Buffalo Niagara, compared with other places where organized labor has a small, unfamiliar presence and often is viewed with caution and skepticism.

“You can’t go anywhere in Western New York without knowing somebody that belongs to a union,” he said.

DeJesus said he believes the effects of the pandemic contributed to the local uptick in union representation.

“What people realized is that it is important to have a seat at the table, to have a say over the terms and conditions of your employment, health and safety,” he said. “What…