Proposed resolution (August, 2008):

Change bullet 3 of 9.5 [dcl.init] paragraph 5 (in the first list, dealing with zero-initialization) as follows:

• if T is a (possibly cv-qualified) union type, the object representation of T (6.8 [basic.types]) is zero-initialized, after which the object's first non-static named data member is zero-initialized;

[Drafting notes: Ask a C liaison about the progress of WG14 paper N1311, which deals with this issue. Since the adoption of WG21 paper N2544, unions may have static data members, hence the change to refer to the first non-static data member and the deletion of the footnote.]