The Office For National Statistics have released the annual figures for union membership.
They don’t make particularly happy reading for those like myself who are union activists but they don’t make hugely unhappy reading either.
The level of union membership has declined a little bit with increases in the public sector and decreases in the private sector. The latter needs qualifying (which the ONS does not). Most very large private sector employers are unionised. In the SME sector its a very different picture
Further union density has declined a bit, partly due to decreasing membership but mostly due to larger numbers in the workforce. You might have missed this given the media focus on those unable to work and on benefits largely because market capitalism is an exploitative system that makes some people ill.
There is a lot of interest as usual in the ONS figures (and I’ll post further).
However historical context is important. Union membership boomed in the years of the Great Unrest (1911) to the General Strike (1926) declined during the 1930s slump but then recovered to a peak in the early 1970s a second period of huge industrial militancy. After that with privatisations, the Thatcherite move away from industry to finance and the defeat of key disputes such as the miners (1984/5) and printers (1986) it has been in decline again.
Two ONS paras are worth initial comment. Firstly union members are more likely to have degrees- a reflection of public sector jobs and union density but also, as the right-wing media remind us- lots more people now have degrees than they had even just several decades ago.
Secondly union membership is higher where stable employment patterns exist and less so where they don’t- think zero-hours etc.
The Employment Relations Bill may well help, but it will only really work with union organisation at the grassroots. Not too many people join a union unless a fellow worker or rep asks them
Close to two-thirds (64%) of employee union members have a degree or equivalent or other higher education qualification compared to 51% of non-union employees and 53% of all employees.
Over 4 in 10 (43%) of employees who were trade union members had been with their current employer for 10 years or more, compared to under a quarter (23%) of non-union member employees.
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