Paul NowakI suppose it’s inevitable given the combination of a hostile government, flat-lining economy, rising unemployment and stagnating household incomes that some commentators are speculating on what all this means for the role and future of trade unions.
Despite significant and ongoing job losses in the public sector, union action on pensions – coupled with a generally raised profile as unions have shown a lead against the government’s damaging austerity programme – has meant that membership appears to be holding steady and in some cases growing. But this is just one one small silver lining in what looks like an increasingly gloomy outlook for our members and their families. Union membership is not just an end in itself. Workers don’t organise for the sake of holding a union card: they organise to help protect their jobs; to ensure they get paid decently; to have access to pensions; to work somewhere that’s safe and healthy; to get a voice on the job; and to develop new skills and build their careers. There’s no doubt that delivering on all these points and more has got harder and harder. Even successful, highly profitable employers appear to be using the current economic crisis as cover cutting back on jobs, pay and pensions (see here and here for current and obvious examples).
It would be easy in this climate to seek solace in counsels of despair. But that’s not my style, and my guess is that if you are reading this blog, it’s not yours either. So I thought it was right to point out that despite all the difficulties, there is plenty of evidence that unions are still in there fighting, and most importantly winning for members. Here’s two very different private sector examples of what I mean.
I’m not on commission, and I’ve only met the bloke once, but if you are interested in what more we can do to rebuild and reinvigorate unions in the workplace and the community you could do worse than checking out 
