The UAW added 12,000 new members in 2014. It's the sixth year in a row the union has expanded.

Membership in the United Auto Workers grew by more than 12,000 during 2014, according to the UAW’s Labor Organization Annual Report, Form LM-2, which was filed with the U.S. Department of Labor.

The report shows UAW membership at 403,466 in 2014, compared to 391,415 in 2013. It is the sixth straight year of membership growth. It was the largest increase in the UAW’s membership since 2010, the year after the end of the “Great Recession” when the union added 21,000 members.

“As the UAW grows our members are better able to take care of their families and support their communities,” said UAW President Dennis Williams. “We understand success and quality products are helping UAW members build a better future for all Americans.”

Williams noted both Ford, FCA US and General Motors have added jobs, many of them the result of investing in existing plants and adding shifts, and some are the result of in-sourcing work to the U.S. that was done elsewhere.

The membership increase comes as Ford, General Motors and FCA US (formerly Chrysler) are much healthier than in recent years and UAW members are seeing the results of 2011 contract negotiations that included more jobs, insourcing and plant investments.

Since 2011, Ford added 1,400 jobs at the Flat Rock, Michigan, plant to bring some Fusion assembly work in from Mexico; 450 jobs at Cleveland Engine for work done in Spain; 60 jobs at the Rawsonville, Michigan, transmission pump plant for work moved from China; 3,030 jobs from Turkey to make the Transit van in Kansas City; and 200 jobs at Ohio Assembly from Mexican Transit van production. In all, 3,361 jobs added by work previously performed elsewhere.

(UAW readying contract demands in Detroit. For more, Click Here.)

General Motors investments have included $185 million at the Spring Hill, Tennessee Complex for a new Small Displacement Ecotec Engine program, which retained 390 jobs at that facility and a $48.4 million at the Bedford, Indiana, Castings Plant for Small Displacement Ecotec Engine.

Fiat-Chrysler has pledged $5.3 billion in U.S. factory investments, $800 million more than its initial commitment.

(Click Here for details about Zetsche’s contract extension with Daimler AG.)

UAW membership also has climbed as a result of organizing drives in gaming, higher education and automotive suppliers.

Williams also noted the numbers filed with the Department of Labor do not reflect the total number of UAW members. Members not reflected in these numbers include those newly organized in the process of bargaining a first contract and those in the academic sector who are represented by the UAW but have not yet signed membership cards. Including those union members in the total brings the number to well over the reported 403,466 for 2014.

(To see more about March auto sales, Click Here.)

In addition, the recent union restructuring, including savings initiatives and internal reductions, is bringing the union closer to a balanced budget for the first time in several years.