20 September 2002
A report published this week by the centre-Left think-tank argues that while one in three UK workers still belongs to a union, the organisations must find new ways of representing workers in growth sectors of the economy – including public service outsourcing – or they will become peripheral in the long term.
Jane Wills, author of Union Futures, said unions should tackle practices such as reduced wages for those who are moved from local government to a private contractor by linking up with other community organisations to turn their concerns into broader community goals.
Some public sector unions have already begun this process, Wills told Public Finance. 'Under the "Living Wage" initiative in east London, seven Unison branches have linked up with schools, colleges, churches and mosques to collectively lobby for better pay across the community,' she said.
But she believes more should be done to prevent the unions' currently stable membership from declining. 'It is small branches of unions like Unison that have done most to adapt to modern working practices. But the national decision-makers at Unison, the GMB and T&G could do more to kick-start a new, modern era of unionism.'
A spokeswoman for the Trades Union Congress said; 'Both the TUC and unions recognise that more needs to be done to reach out beyond workplaces where unions have traditionally been strong.
'That's why some five years ago we founded the TUC Organising Academy, which has helped train around 150 young men and women in union organising.'
PFsep2002
