[IER] Special offer: Meeting the Challenges of Age - trade unions and young people

[Sarah Glenister]

Dear IER supporter

Statistics released yesterday show trade unions are continuing to struggle
to attract young members.

 

In response, the IER's publication Federation News: Meeting the Challenges
of Age
<http://www.ier.org.uk/publications/federation-news-spring-2012-meeting-chal
lenges-age>  has been reduced to a special offer price of just £5 to trade
union members and £10 to non-trade union members.

 

The following article provides a more in-depth view of the issues at hand:


Trade unions need young members, and young workers need trade unions


30 May 2013


By Sarah Glenister, IER staff


 
<http://www.ier.org.uk/publications/federation-news-spring-2012-meeting-chal
lenges-age> Now on special offer!The latest
<https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/2
03471/bis-13-p77-trade-union-membership-2012.pdf> trade union membership
statistics, released by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
yesterday (29 May 2013), shows the age of the average trade union member is
increasing at the same time as young workers need representation more than
ever.

According to the figures, around 36% of trade union members in 2012 were
over the age of 50, with membership having fallen in all age groups over the
last 17 years, except among those aged over 65.

It is no surprise to see a decline in membership during the recession, as
trade unions have been hit by the economic slowdown in line with the
majority of organisations - private and third sector. Furthermore, the
statistics are not all bleak. There was an overall increase in trade union
membership in 2012 of 59,000, bringing total membership figures to 6.5
million. This boost was fuelled by a rise in membership in the private
sector for the second year running, with 63,000 employees becoming new
members and the proportion of private sector staff who are represented by
trade unions improving by 0.2 percentage points to 14.4%. Meanwhile,
membership among public sector workers remained broadly stable.

At a time when the Coalition government is systematically destructing
workers' legal protections in favour of private profit, trade union
membership is vital. Workplace representatives steer employees through
ever-changing and increasingly unjust employment law, and ensure their wages
remain as high as possible. Indeed, the figures showed that the average
trade union member is paid around 17% more than the average non-trade union
member - a significant premium at a time when
<http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/may-2013/sty-awe
.html> weekly earnings growth has hit a record low.

Membership is particularly important for young workers, who have been among
the hardest-hit by both the recession and Coalition policies. The
<http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_307508.pdf> Office for National
Statistics reported last week (15 May 2013) that the unemployment rate for
economically-active 16 to 24-year-olds not in full-time education hit 19.1
per cent in January to March 2013, surging by 0.7 percentage points in the
previous quarter. Overall, 668,000 people in this group were unemployed, up
by 18,000 since October to December 2012.

 

Young people just entering work are also vulnerable to being exploited by
employers taking advantage of much-criticised apprenticeship schemes paying
just £2.65 an hour and accused of providing little or no valuable training
to employees. Before they have been with the same employer for at least two
years, they can also not claim for unfair dismissal. If they should decide
to go to university rather than straight into the workplace, they are also
faced with newly towering tuition fees.

Marie Taylor, Vice-President of the Community and Youth Workers section of
Unite (CWYU) provided a ten-step plan for unions on how to explain the
benefits of membership to young people in a recent copy of
<http://www.ier.org.uk/publications/federation-news-spring-2012-meeting-chal
lenges-age> Federation News, by the Institute of Employment Rights and the
General Federation of Trade Unions.

"Recently, young people 
 have been at the forefront of direct action
challenging government policy," she wrote, explaining that a major result of
the impact of the cuts on these individuals is "that it has politicised them
in a way that only personal experience ever can."

That issue of
<http://www.ier.org.uk/publications/federation-news-spring-2012-meeting-chal
lenges-age> Federation News - Meeting the Challenges of Age, which focuses
on the challenges to trade unions in protecting young and elderly workers,
is now on special offer at just £5 per copy. It includes ten essays by
academics, trade unionists and youth workers on how to tackle the problems
facing the young and ageing in UK workplaces.

 

 

Sarah Glenister

IT Development and Communications Assistant

Institute of Employment Rights

4th Floor, Jack Jones House, 1 Islington, Liverpool, L3 8EG

0151 207 5265

 

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