Good news from the folks at the AFL-CIO. Union membership is up! In fact, the headline over the federation’s Now blog says it all: Workers Joining AFL-CIO Unions at Highest Rate in Two Generations. The highlights:

• Between 2004 and 2006, according to documents filed with the U.S. Labor Department, the combined growth of AFL-CIO unions rose by 1.42 percent, a net gain of 136,000 members.
• Government unions AFSCME and the Postal Workers added a combined 175,000 members.
• The Communications Workers Association added 10,000 through a (troubling) deal with Cingular (which still drops our calls, despite their ads to the contrary).
• Nearly 66,000 peopled joined the Screen Actors Guild.

Which leads us to wonder: Why in God’s name — when working Americans are “joining AFL-CIO unions” at the “highest rate in two generations” — do we need to upend the current system in which people join unions with the protection of secret ballots?