Just 14 per cent of private sector workers are in unions, making work more insecure for everyone
Unless you’re a labour market geek, you almost certainly missed the government’s statistics on trade union membership released at the end of last month. Don’t worry, I don’t blame you.
But the state of the trade union movement is absolutely central to the future of the labour market and work in our future economy. So we should sit up and take notice of what’s going on.
The problem is, for many years there’s been little to sit up and take notice of. Unions have, since Thatcher’s trade union reforms, been in a process of steady, dull decline – never too sudden to force it to a moment of crisis.
In Gramscian terms, the old is very slowly dying, but the new is yet to be born.
The same-old approaches to labour organisation don’t seem to be creating the revival that the union movement needs in an increasingly fragmented world of employment – with nearly five million self-employed, millions more working part-time, and millions others doing multiple jobs with varying degrees of ‘formality’ – from zero-hours to temping.
The latest Labour Force Survey, released by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, shows that:
‘Around 6.5 million employees in the UK were trade union members in 2015. The level of overall union members was broadly unchanged from 2014. Current membership levels are well below the peak of over 13 million in 1979.’
A small numerical increase of 36,000 doesn’t account for the rise in employment that has taken place in the last few years, meaning union density – the percentage of workers who are in unions – has continued its decline, falling slightly to 24.7 per cent in 2015.
That means a proportionally weaker union movement within workplaces, where it counts. (And they’re ageing too – p21).
Just 14 per cent of private sector workers are now in unions. That means only one in seven have any kind of collective voice protecting their rights at work. With a shrinking public sector in a time of austerity, that really matters.
In the public sector, density remains basically static, with 55 per cent of workers unionised. So we’re left with a relatively protected rump of the five million public sector workers in the UK, while the 25 million private sector workers are increasingly isolated and marginalised in terms of workplace representation.
Let’s be clear: without serious union action to organise in non-traditional private sector workplaces – e.g. outside of energy, transport and infrastructure – work is only going to get more insecure for all of us.
Regulations set the baseline for employment practice. Unions set an even better baseline and enforce the former. When many of us are protected by unions, we all reap a ‘union premium’ through raised standard in the market.
After falling during the recession years, union membership levels among employees have stabilised since 2011. But with stabilisation there’s come a lethargy or stasis.
Aside from the positive but variable Young Workers’ Month, there’s little sign of plans to organise the millions of freelancers in Britain, or those who’ve never heard of a union, the self-employed, or those who work in small offices. Partly because of course, it’s so bloody hard.
We need radical thinking, and, predictably, no one has the panacea. But unions need to take risks and experiment in order to be at the forefront of 21st century coalitions to engage the disengaged – to get a precariat which doesn’t have the ideological attachments to unions mobilised.
As Unison executive member Jon Rogers said in a blog post on Wednesday:
‘our trade unions have not suffered a decisive defeat as we did in the 1980s. […]
On the other hand – perhaps because of the approach of (in effect) ‘battening down the hatches’ […] we have not broken out of our marginalisation and relative decline.
The time is right for a new start, for new imagination and for new enthusiasm’
Exploitation has changed in the 21st century, but it’s still very much with us. It’s no longer about losing limbs in looms, but about stress, long-hours, unpaid overtime and the expectation that you have to work outside of actual working hours – and a hundred other issues.
There’s some small signs for hope in recent years: BECTU’s successful Ritzy cinema workers’ strike in Brixton; Unite’s successful campaign against ‘tip theft’ at chain restaurants; and the BMA’s junior doctors’ strike which inspired thousands of young docs to join the union and – crucially – win.
Stagnation isn’t good enough. We need a turnaround. Unions that don’t recognise that will be left behind – and so will a generation of workers.
Josiah Mortimer is a regular contributor to Left Foot Forward. You can follow him on Twitter@josiahmortimer.
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
4 Responses to “Radical thinking is needed to boost trade union membership”
Martyn
Community unions are the way forward – using a model similar to the Unite Community Union – by organising in the community we can overcome the fragmentation of the labour force that has made union organising more difficult, and tackle the conditions that have given rise to the precariat.
Law Man
Trade unions have the potential to do so much good. In the current state of insecurity of employment and income, they are needed even more.
So why is it that they are unattractive? I suggest two possibilities:
1. A perception that unions are more concerned with politics and outside causes than helping members. In part this perception is correct, but it misses the excellent work done by local union representatives within companies. We should publicize and praise this more.
As one example, take school teachers. I may be naive, but I believe they are dedicated and want to do well for their children. They have to work in a hostile environment with bureaucrat, tick box targets from above, and – in too many cases – a lack of respect from the pupils. Teachers Unions should be fighting for their members to stop this.
2. Potential membership. As the article rightly says, there are many self employed workers, and ‘zero hours’ workers. Unions could expand their appeal by taking on these people and giving them support.
Jimmy Glesga
Zero hours workers have no rights to defend. Sadly Labour tolerated zero hours.
David Davies
I have been a union member since 1972, and my main complaint concerns the salaries and benefits looted by union leaders out of contributions. How can they `represent’ those on Minimum Waged Zero Hours Contracts, when they live in the lap of luxury?