The new face of British trade unionism
For the third consecutive year, I’m helping my friend Eric Lee, the founder of LabourStart, with the online course he runs for Indiana University in the United States looking at comparative labour movements. The course examines trade unionism in a vareity of very different countries and this week I am the guest tutor for the UK.
Coincidentally, the “Guardian” today has an interview with Frances O’Grady – someone I know and respect – who is the first female Deputy General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress. The article reveals that for the first time trade union membership in this country is now an equal 50/50 gender split.
Perhaps even more encouragingly, figures due to be revealed at the TUC’s annual conference next week will show that British trade unions have “turned the corner”, with an overall membership rise of 11,000 up to 6.46 million. However, fewer than one in five private sector employees in the UK join a union, compared with almost three in five public sector employees.