UAW Membership On The Rise

(Detroit-WWJ) Good news is hard to come by in the labor movement these days, but the United Auto Workers Union has something to smile about.

The Detroit-based UAW tells the U.S. Labor Department in a filing that membership has gone up for the first time in years.

The UAW says it had 376 thousand, 612 members as of last year. That's a six percent increase over 2009 and the first jump in membership since 2004.

President Bob King says the gains were due largely to more hiring in the auto industry, as well as successful organizing efforts among graduate students and casino workers.

Membership is still well below the UAW's peak of 1.5 million in 1979.

(Copyright 2011 WWJ Newsradio 950. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press Contributed To This Story.)