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After decades of dwindling numbers, union membership is growing, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics figures. In 2008, total union membership rose by over 400,000 to 16.1 million.

The increase ends a long trend of decreasing union membership. It is likely that membership is growing because union jobs tend to be more stable and have better wages and benefits, even when the economy is bad.

Most of that growth was due to an increase in the number of federal, state and city government workers who joined unions. Current law makes it easier for government workers to join unions than private-sector employees, whose employers tend to be more aggressive in blocking employees from forming a union. The rate of union membership for government workers was nearly five times higher than that of non-government workers in 2008.

The low rate of non-governmental union membership makes legislation like the Employee Free Choice Act more important than ever. The legislation, which has not yet been introduced in the current session of Congress, would give workers the option to choose how to form a union, either by ballot or by getting a majority of employees to sign a union-authorization card.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has called the Employee Free Choice Act "the most important legislation helping workers economically in many, many years."

President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law this morning, making it easier for employees to challenge pay discrimination in court.

The law reverses a damaging Supreme Court decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. that restricted an employee's ability to file claims to 180 days from the date that the first discriminatory pay decision was made. This law makes clear that each discriminatory paycheck is a separate act of discrimination that can be challenged in court.

The law "reestablishes the law’s incentive for employers to correct discriminatory pay practices.  Employers will no longer have the free pass to continue to discriminate against their employees without ever having to worry about being held accountable," said Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center, in a statement.

Obama was joined at the signing by Lilly Ledbetter, after whom the law is named. Ledbetter worked for Goodyear for almost 20 years before learning that she had been paid less than her male colleagues. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that Ledbetter had filed her discrimination complaint too late and could not receive damages from her employer.

This morning, the House of Representatives passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and Paycheck Fairness Act.

LCCR President Wade Henderson said in a statement:

"Today's House vote is a victory for all American workers.  The Leadership Conference lauds the U.S. House of Representatives for its continued support for the crucial civil rights issue of fair pay for workers.

"If passed by the Senate, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act will assure Americans in these hard economic times that the rights of ordinary workers on the shop floor are as important and protected as those in the board rooms."

The two bills, which would make it easier for workers to file claims of pay discrimination, have been top priorities of Democratic leaders in the House. The Senate is expected to take up the bills later this month.

Today, the NAACP and the civil rights law firm of Mehri & Skalet announced the Madison Avenue Project, an initiative to reduce widespread racial discrimination in the advertising industry.

A new study shows "dramatic levels" of racial discrimination throughout the industry, 38 percent worse than in the overall labor market. According to the study, African-American advertising employees are underpaid, and are underrepresented in higher-level jobs. Among large advertising firms, 16 percent employ no Black managers or professionals, and Blacks are only 62 percent as likely as their White counterparts to hold "creative" or "client contact" positions.

In addition, Black job candidates are often funneled into positions or agencies specializing in "ethnic markets," rather than the general advertising market.

• Full report: Research Perspectives on Race and Employment in the Advertising Industry (pdf)