Membership

Union membership rose by 100,000, or 0.6%, to 16.2 million in 1998 from the previous year, the Labor Department said. At the same time, the share of the work force represented by organized labor declined to 13.9% from 14.1%, reflecting population growth and an overall expansion in the work force, the department said. That is the least the percentage has fallen for the last five years. In 1994, there were 16.7 million union members, which reflected 15.5% of the work force.

John Miltner, UCI's vice chancellor for university advancement, has use of a membership in the exclusive Big Canyon Country Club--for which there is a lengthy waiting list--courtesy of the Irvine Co. According to company President Thomas H. Nielsen, the firm assigned one of the social (non-golfing) memberships held in its name to Miltner, "in his role as vice chancellor of the university."

Cigna Corp. said it swung to a profit in the third quarter, but the employee benefits provider said membership in its medical plans continued to decline. Its share price surged nearly 19%. Cigna beat analysts' expectations by reporting net income of $195 million, or $1.39 a share, contrasted with a net loss of $877 million, or $6.27, a year earlier. Revenue dropped 6.1% to $4.77 billion. The earnings beat the $1.17 expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call. Cigna shares climbed $9.

NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner declared Friday that he believes Russia and other Eastern European nations will accept a plan that would eventually admit the former Communist states as members. Such acceptance would guarantee a success for next week's summit meeting of the 16-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization--and for President Clinton's first European appearance as leader of the Western alliance.

In an announcement apparently motivated by political considerations, John W. Snow, President Bush's nominee for Treasury secretary, said Monday he was resigning his membership at Augusta National Golf Club. During a morning news briefing before Bush officially named Snow the nominee to replace the fired Paul H. O'Neill, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer had said the Augusta National membership of Snow, a 63-year-old chairman of rail freight network giant CSX Corp.

The National Rifle Assn. lost more than 300,000 members this year, almost one-tenth of its total, at a time of both highly publicized controversy and rising influence in Congress. The five consecutive months of membership declines, after a brief increase in January, left the group with slightly less than 3.2 million members at the end of June, according to NRA documents.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced its total membership grew 2.9% to more than 11.7 million people during 2002. The Mormon church reported that 283,138 converts worldwide were baptized during the year. The church, based in Salt Lake City, has 61,638 full-time missionaries and 114 temples in operation.

The membership of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod totaled more than 2.5 million in 1999, a drop of almost 12,000 members from the previous year. Congregations reported a total baptized membership of 2,582,440 in 1999, down 11,964. Congregations also reported a slight decline in average weekly attendance at worship services. The 1999 figure was 155.1, down by 1.5 from 1998. Financial giving by congregations surpassed the $1-billion mark for the second year in a row.

A New York Stock Exchange membership, or seat, sold for $2.4 million Monday, down $100,000 from the last sale Friday and $250,000 short of the 1999 record price. Seat prices dropped as low as $975,000 on Jan. 11 as the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a rule threatening to drive trading from the Big Board's auction-based floor. Prices increased after that proposal was modified and after the NYSE agreed April 20 to merge with electronic-trading venue Archipelago Holdings Inc.