Unionized workers have a strong history in southwestern Ontario, and while their role is changing, they continue to support many of the region's workers.

They have been in the news a lot lately, with strikes at big names like Air Canada and Canada Post, and unions continue to play a large role in representing a collective of employees.

Large manufacturers, auto parts especially, have been a boon to the economy in southwestern Ontario, but as their role has declined so has the prominence of the union.

The former Budd Canada plant in Kitchener employed more than 2,000 workers in its prime, many represented by a union.

But as those jobs have been cut or sent abroad, many of the areas strongest unions have been weakened.

Mikal Skuterud, associate professor of economics at the University of Waterloo, says "I think we have a pretty good idea that what's happening in this region is probably the same thing that's happening nationally."

In Waterloo Region union membership has been on the decline, dropping to 19.7 per cent of workers in 2010. That's about five per cent less than ten years before, and nearly ten per cent below the 2010 national rate of 29.6 per cent.

But despite the dip in numbers, unions are still playing a strong role in southwestern Ontario.

Sean O'Dwyer is a former carpenter who is now the senior business representative for the Carpenters Union Local 785. He says membership has been on the rise over the last five years.

"Basically we give our men a lot of training which gets their skill built up and makes them competitive in the workforce…some of these kids now realize that getting a pension at an early age is a golden thing to have."

But despite the growth in the Carpenters Union, the same cannot be said across the board.

Skuterud says "There's increasing market pressures, competitive market pressures that are making it difficult for unions to exist."

But despite those pressures, unions continue to serve a purpose for their members.

Coming up in part two: Find out which industries continue to have a strong union membership.