Unions Work - The Research

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Unions Work Research on The Scottish Membership Challenge' andWhy Unions Work'

STUC Research Team

April 2004

The Changing Face of the Scottish Workforce1

Over the past two decades, there has been a radical change in Scotland's industrial base and in patterns and types of employment. These changes have taken place together with the attacks on trade union organisation, which occurred throughout the eighties and most of the nineties. Trade unions in Scotland have already moved to meet many of the challenges presented by these changes, but it is generally acknowledged that more needs to be done to ensure that a new generation of trade unionists emerge to build a stronger and even more effective movement in the decades to come.

Workers in Scotland...

There are just over 3.14m people of working age in Scotland. Forty nine percent are female.

Statistics are not available on the proportion of Scotland's ethnic minority population of working age. However, the size of the minority ethnic population is just over 100,000 or 2% of the total population of Scotland.

There are nearly 570,000 16-24 year olds in Scotland representing 11% of the Scottish population

Economic activity...

Three quarters of those of working age in Scotland are economically active. 70.5% of working age women are economically active. 58% of non-white people in Scotland are economically active.

Around 65% of the economically active people in Scotland work full-time, whilst a further 21% are employed part-time. Over 414,000 of working age people in Scotland work part-time. 87% of these workers are women.

Forty-three percent of 16-24 year olds are full-time or part-time2 employees whilst 17% are full-time students. Almost 80% of students also work part-time. Black workers are less likely to be in full-time or part-time employment (25% and 8% respectively) than their white counterparts but are more likely to be full-time students or self-employed (7% and 9% respectively)

Where are workers employed...

The top three sectors in which Scottish males are employed are manufacturing, construction and retail. Traditionally, manufacturing and construction have

been well-unionised and contribute to the historically higher unionisation rates of men. On the other hand, women are less likely to be employed in these sectors. Five times more women than men are employed in the health and social work sector this is the top sector for female workers. Slightly more women than men are employed in the retail sector and twice as many females than men work in education.

Figure 1: Proportion Employed by Industry by Gender

25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% g

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Males Females Industry Group

Source: Census 2001 data

Twenty percent of young people in Scotland are employed in the retail sector and the hotel and restaurant sector employs a significant proportion of young workers (9.5%). Public administration, education and health sectors are the least likely attractive sectors for young people, with 5.5%, 4% and 8% of young workers respectively employed in these sectors.

The highest proportion of non-white workers is employed in the retail and hotel and restaurant sectors (22% and 19.8% of black workers respectively). The health and social work sector also employs a large proportion of ethnic minority workers (13.1%) mainly in the lower paid jobs which are available in this sector. Ethnic minority employees are less likely to be found in rural industries such as agriculture, fishing and utilities.

Earnings in Scotland...

Average full-time weekly earnings in Scotland are £436.763 this is 92% of the average GB weekly wage. Women in Scotland earn 80.6% of men's earnings levels4. However, this gap between males and females widens to almost 45% in some occupations. The gap is wider for older women and for part-time workers is nearly 40%. Non-white workers earn 88% of white employees earnings5. Most of

this difference is due to different pay rates for white and ethnic minority men. Women from ethnic minorities earn, on average, roughly the same as white female workers6. The Membership Challenge

The changing face of work and workers has had a profound impact upon trade union density in Scotland.

According to 2004 Labour Force Survey estimates on union density, 37% of Scottish workers are union members whereas more than half of all employees were in membership in 1981.

The steepest fall in membership has been among full time workers where membership is just 39%. There is a much smaller drop in the number of part-time employees who are union members (from 26% to 24%), however the significant rise in part-time employment in Scotland makes the effect of this low rate of unionisation much more profound in overall terms.

The current rate of trade union membership in Scotland relies increasingly on the public sector. 66% of public sector workers are union members in Scotland compared to just 21% in the private sector7.

Density figures for Scotland show that membership remains significantly higher than the UK average. Scottish membership is comparable with the North of England and a little lower than in Wales.

Figure 2: Union Density in UK and Scotland

40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Full-time Part-time All employees

% Scotland % UK

Source: LFS Trade union membership figures, March 2004

Between 1980 and the millennium, STUC affiliated trade union fell from almost 1.1 million to less than 630,000, as illustrated below in figure 3. This represents an average reduction of over 2% year on year, with the largest losses being incurred

between 1989 and 19948. This massive reduction reflects and broadly follows the pattern for the fall in trade union membership in the United Kingdom for that period.

The fall in membership density is generally accepted to have a number of key causes: the expansion in new, non-unionised, sectors of the economy; the growth of atypical forms of employment such as part-time and contract work and the changes in state policy towards trade unions, to name a few.

Figure 3: STUC Membership Levels

1200000

1000000

800000

600000

400000

200000

0 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 94 95 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 ar Ye

19 19 19 19 20 20 20 20 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19

Source: STUC membership figures

However, the change in Scotland's industrial profile cannot conceal the fact that even in traditional "union industries" there has been a significant decline in membership. Changes of management culture and workplace size within the private manufacturing sector are a key contributor to the decrease in union recognition and membership. In 1990, establishments which were more than 10 years old (i.e. created in the 1970s or earlier) had a 59% likelihood of trade union recognition. Younger firms, created sometime in the 1980s had only a 34% likelihood to recognise a union. In the past decade this gap has widened further, with older establishments being twice as likely to have a recognition deal9.

The trend of changing membership patterns within sectors as well as across sectors is evidenced in an analysis of Labour Force surveys for the UK between1990 and 200010:

· Trade union density in manual trades fell from 43% to 28% while it only fell from 35% to 31% in the non-manual sector; · Whilst trade union membership in the service sector did show a fall (from 37% to 31%), since 1997 density in this sector has been greater than in the

production sector, where membership fell from 43% in 1990 to 28% by the millennium; · Membership amongst full time workers fell from 43% to 33% while part time workers' membership stayed steady, but low, on 22%; · Whereas male trade union membership fell from 43% to 30%, female membership was much more steady showing a fall from 32% to 29%. Halting membership decline...

Over the past two years the STUC has reported a modest real increase in affiliated membership. Though the increase is small enough to fall within margins of statistical error, the upward trend is confirmed by a somewhat larger rise evident in Labour Force Survey figures for union density in Scotland announced in March 2004. This reflects the fact that the overall working population has fallen in Scotland in the recent period.

This rise confirms a trend (figure 4) which indicates that the trade union movement in Scotland has been increasingly effective in the recruitment of new members over the past few years.

Figure 4: STUC Membership Trends (annual year on year fall in % membership)

10,000

0 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 -10,000

-20,000

-30,000

-40,000

-50,000

-60,000 Year

Source: STUC membership figures

The halting of the membership decline both in Scotland and the UK and the general increase in collective bargaining agreements since 2000 strongly supports the view that the relaxation of anti-trade union legislation in the 1999 Employment Relations Act is a key factor in improving recruitment and representation within the trade union movement. In the four years prior to the Employment Relations Act 1999, recognition deal in the UK totalled 354, whereas in the subsequent four years new deals reached 110111. Recognition deals in Scotland between 1999 and 2002 number 247 representing 13% of UK recognition deals12.

There is little or no evidence to suggest that current union members are any less positive about the general role played by trade unions than they were in earlier years13 but it seems that the perception of unions' importance or relevance from those not in membership may be lower. The number of employees who have never been a member of a union or staff association rose from 28% to 48% between 1983 and 2001. Never having been in a union has become a common life event for a cohort of workers born between the mid 1960s and the mid 1970s14. Recruiting a New Generation of Trade Union Members and Activists

Young people and trade unions

The starkest challenge facing the Scottish trade unions today is the recruitment of young people.

Young workers can be the lifeblood of the trade union movement in Scotland. Yet at present only 5% of workers aged 16 to 20 are members of a trade union growing to just 11% for 16-24 years olds15. 14% of full-time employees of this age are members whilst only 5% of young people who work part-time belong to a trade union16. Consequently, union membership is ageing at a faster rate than the labour force as a whole.

Young peoples' attitudes to trade unions...

One of the reasons often offered as to why young workers do not become members is that these workers have negative attitudes towards trade unions. However, as the table below shows there is little ideological opposition to trade unionism among young people17.

Table 1: Attitudes of employees towards trade unions by age Views of unions in general Up to 29 years 30 and over (%) (%) Trade unions are old-fashioned 18 17

Trade unions have no future in modern Britain 70 70

Strong trade unions are needed to protect the 63 47 working conditions and wages of employees Source: adapted from Freeman and Diamond (2003)18

Whilst there is an apparent contradiction between the view that trade unions are both necessary and not old fashioned and the view that they "have no future" in modern Britain, there would appear to be a recognition that unions might become less relevant rather than that they should be less relevant. Equally it is clear that young people do not equate pessimism over the future of unions with any failure to modernise.

There is also evidence that the general attitude to unions of today's young people is no less positive than that of earlier generations. Indeed there is significantly greater support for the notion that "strong unions are needed to protect workers19.

Of course a significant proportion of young people in this age group have yet to enter employment and it may be the case that it is only on entering the labour market that the roles and benefits of trade unions become clear.20 This assumption is supported by the information in Table 2.

Table 2: Attitudes of young persons towards unions Question Response How much, if anything, do you know about trade unions? A great deal 1% A fair amount 12% Not very much 44% Nothing at all 42% From what you know or have heard, how favourable or unfavourable would you feel towards trade unions? Very/mainly favourable 37% Mixed/don't know 54% Very/mainly unfavourable 9% Source: Adapted from Freeman and Diamond (2003)21

Experience of unions upon entering employment determines workers' attitudes to unions, rather than the age of the worker. Attitudes to society, work and the economy are in a formative stage during late teens and early twenties meaning views about unions are emergent during youth and will be influenced by age and experiences in the labour market22.

Young peoples' exposure to trade unions...

Therefore, exposure to unions in the workplace can be expected to impact on young worker's unionism levels. To a significant extent, lower membership among young people is a product of the types of jobs in which they are employed23. Young workers tend to have a different industrial distribution from older workers, disproportionately represented in those sectors of the economy which are not well unionised24. Evidence also suggests that even when working in the same sector as older workers, young people are more likely to be employed in less unionised enterprises25. The non-availability of trade unions in the workplace is the major reason why union membership is low among young people. A greater proportion of young workers work in workplaces where there are only a few union members26.

Comparisons of the industries in which 16-29 year olds in Scotland are employed with union membership by industry confirms this.

Figure 5: Proportion of Union Membership by Industry vs. Proportion of 16-29 yr olds by Industry Employed

25%

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* n

es rin

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O Union density by industry

Proportion of 16-29 year olds employed by Industry Group industry

Source: Census 2001 and "Trade union membership: an analysis of data from the autumn 2001 LFS", ONS Labour Market Trends, July 2002 *Other activities includes agriculture, mining, electricity and hotels and restaurants industries

Twenty percent of young people in Scotland are employed in the retail sector whilst 19% are employed in `other activities', a category dominated by hotel and restaurant sector. It can also be seen that public administration, education and health sectors are those least likely to employ young people, with 5.5%, 4% and 8% of young workers respectively. Comparing this with proportion of union membership by industry validates the notion that young people do not tend to be employed in well-unionised sectors of the economy.

In contrast with the sectors in which young people are employed, public administration, education, health and manufacturing are the most unionised sectors in the economy. This reflects the fact that working in the public sector as opposed to the private sector increases likelihood of union membership27.

Research has shown that 60% of young non-members work in workplaces with no union presence. Similarly, the most cited reason for these young workers not

joining a trade union is `my employer does not allow or recognise unions' indicating that the most important predictor of union membership is recognition in the workplace. In the same survey, 16.5% of non-unionised young people reported that joining a union might damage their career prospects confirming that workplace and employer attitudes have an impact on the unionisation levels of these workers28.

Even when in organised workplaces, young workers are still less likely than older workers to be union members. This may in part be due to union representatives failing to interact and sign up young workers effectively29. In a survey conducted in 1990, 40% of non-unionised young workers stated that they were not union members because they had not been asked30. In 2002, a comparable study showed that one-third of non-members employed in unionised workplaces had not been asked to join31.

Further surveys have shown that 37% of non-members under age 30 in unionised workplaces were not asked to join compared to 15% of those aged 30 and over32. This is compounded further as 28% of young non-members also cite "never got round to joining" and "not interested enough" as reason for not belonging to a union33. This highlights the importance of union representatives approaching young workers on entry into the labour market to explain the benefits of becoming a trade union member.

Other influences on the recruitment of young workers...

Young workers have more labour market mobility than older workers and as a consequence are likely to change jobs more frequently. This encourages young people to exit' rather than use thevoice' approach offered through trade union membership if dissatisfied at work34. Given this more frequent job changing among young workers, any benefits they perceive to gain from membership will be limited to the relatively short period over which they remain with their current employer35.

A further influence on unionisation rates of the young workers is whether a family member, particularly the father, is or has been a trade union member. Young people with unionised fathers are twice as likely to become union members than those with non-unionised fathers and this rises to three times higher for those whose fathers are union activists. Those young people who state that their parents are active in the trade union movement or have positive attitudes to unions are more likely to have favourable attitudes to unions themselves and more likely to express an intention to unionise36. This indicates that socialisation within the family plays a role in encouraging union membership. This could mean that with fewer people coming from union families, it will be potentially more difficult to engage with young workers37.

Much encouragement can be derived from these findings. Young people are not less positive about unions and are likely to join when and if they approached within an unionised workplace.

However, given the greater chance of young people gaining employment in non-unionised workplaces, a comprehensive strategy for recruiting them to trade unions cannot rely solely on a workplace strategy. Scottish trade unions and the STUC must also focus their message on schools, colleges and universities. Equally, strategies for unionising less well organised sectors must be high on the agenda of any campaign to recruit young people to trade unions today.

The Recruitment Challenge in the Private Sector

As detailed earlier in this paper, historically, certain groups of employees have always been more difficult to organise than others. Private sector employees are one of these groups. Current trade union density in the private sector has fallen to just 21%.

This decline has been particularly noticeable in the last two decades due to the explosion of employment in private services. A significant element of the decline in unionisation rates is the difficulty in securing recognition in new and growing workplaces38. These new and growing businesses cover almost four-fifths of employees in the private sector indicating the importance of union recruitment in these workplaces. Just 22% of private sector workplaces have union recognition agreements in contrast to full recognition in the public sector (ref Gall)

The failure to gain recognition or recruit members in new workplaces is reflected in the growing number of workers who have never been union members i.e. `never members'. Never membership is most concentrated in groups of workers where unions have been historically weak, with a rate of 55% for the private sector39. Importantly, recent evidence suggests that the level of unmet demand for union membership in non-unionised workplaces is large, and offers unions real organising opportunities40.

In organised workplaces, never membership is still an issue of importance, with a large proportion of decline in union density in recent years due to rising never membership in these workplaces. One explanation for this may be free riding, where non-members are content to benefit from the operation of an effective union without paying union fees. Many of the benefits of union membership are available to all workers in a workplace whether union members of not because in most cases all workers are covered by the improvements in pay and conditions negotiated by the union through collective agreements. Recent research shows that 41% of private sector employees in unionised workplaces

are free riders41. This is further confirmed with evidence suggesting that 35% of non-members in unionised workplaces cite `no point since I get all the benefits' as the second most important reason for not joining a union42. These findings suggest that trade unions need to find ways of reducing the lure of free riding in order to recruit non-members in unionised workplaces.

Employers' attitudes to trade unions and union membership are also important in recruiting members. In the unionised private sector, half of all employers have neutral feelings towards unions and 45% are in favour. In the unorganised sector, only one in twenty private sector employers are in favour of union membership, with two-thirds saying they are indifferent and 30% against43. Further to this, 42% of employers in the non-unionised private sector are indifferent as to whether unions improve workplace performance44. This shows that although there are some employers who are against union recognition, the main obstacle in the private sector will be overcoming employer indifference, especially as managers are more likely to support unions if they can see advantages for the organisation in terms of productivity, financial performance and enhanced employee relations.

The Recruitment Challenge in the Public Sector

Recruitment in the public sector is traditionally high with 66% of public sector employees currently being a member of their trade union.

Public sector employees are more likely to cite collective issues as their reason for trade union membership. The top four given reasons for membership of UNISON were45:

· Support should a problem arise at work; · Most people at work are members; · I believe in trade unions; · Membership benefits.

There is particular contrast here between the prominence of most people at work are members' andI believe in trade unions' which attract far more support in this survey than in surveys conducted for the trade union movement as a whole. Whilst is must be remembered that there is a significant public service ethos' effect, it seems clear that high trade union density and recognition promotes a far greater adherence to what might be consideredtraditional' reasons for joining a union.

A similar survey suggests that of those who leave public sector unions through reasons other than retirement, over 30%46 do so to move to a workplace in which the union is not recognised. A further 20% leave union membership through changing their employment to the private sector. This has two consequences. Firstly, public sector unions are required to recruit new workers at a consistently high level in order to maintain density levels. Secondly, the effect of workers

moving from the highly unionised public sector to the less unionised private sector has a consistent downward effect upon union retention rates. The lack of transferability of membership (where the new workplace does not have a recognition agreement) exacerbates this problem.

Despite maintaining a far higher level of trade union density, public sector unions are in a similar position to the wider trade union movement in terms of their ageing membership. To this extent the need to attract the new generation of young workers is similar47.

The involvement in the public sector of unions negotiating on wages and terms and conditions on behalf of the complete cohort of workers acutely demonstrates the issue of free riding where tens of thousands of workers in Scotland currently benefit from wages and conditions negotiated using the resources of the public sector unions. Attracting the over 30% of public sector workers who are currently in this situation should be a major priority for the Scottish trade union movement. Women and Trade Unions: Membership and Participation

Despite the fact that 45% of trade unionists in Scotland are female48, women are still less likely than men to be a member of a union. Research suggests that this difference is partially attributable to lower favourability to trade unions among women and to women's concentration in low paid and part-time employment49.

Further to this, as discussed earlier, women's employment in Scotland is concentrated in the public sector with the majority of females working in the health and social work and education sectors of the economy. Analysis of STUC membership figures confirms that at least 65% of the total number of women trade unionists in Scotland work in the public sector. As there is no evidence to suggest that women workers find unions less relevant than their male counterparts, the lower level of union membership amongst women is explained by the lower levels of unionisation in the private sector and women's work patterns. If more women are to be recruited into the trade union movement, strategies must focus on the private sector.

Women's participation and recruitment...

Women's participation in the trade union movement varies from union to union based upon the gender profile of the union and the level of success in promoting women's involvement. However, generally, women have rarely attained a level of representation in formal decision making structures, in national and regional full-time officer posts or at local level commensurate with membership share50. Evidence suggests that the only limited success of unions to incorporate `women's culture' into the movement has also been a factor in women's lesser participation in unions51.

Women's involvement in unions can be influenced by the number of female officials and activists in the union. Female activists, in particular, have a pivotal role to play in improving recruitment and retention of women members, as research suggest they help create a women'-friendly' union image. Women officials have an equally important role in recruitment of female union members. Evidence suggests that the presence of female officials "dispels the myth that trade unionism is for and about men, creating arole model' effect which attracts women into the unions"52. Women officials enable trade unions to move towards a fuller engagement of the interests and needs of female workers53.

Part-time workers...

Part-time and other forms of flexible working is now prevalent in the Scottish labour market, with the growth in employment in the UK in recent years being mainly the result of an expansion in the number of part time jobs.

Part-time workers need unions and importantly, unions need part-time workers only 22% of part-time workers are union members compared to 39% of full-time54. This low membership density can be partly attributed to the difficultly of recruiting part-timers to trade unions. Reasons for this difficulty have been found to include55:

· Part-time workers state that they cannot afford the unions fees; · There is a high turnover of part-time workers; · It is difficult for reps to contact these workers; · Part-time workers have problems attending meetings because of the hours which they work; · They do not have their own representatives; · Part-time workers tend to work in less well-unionised sectors of the economy, particularly in retail services which has a union density of just 6%.

Despite the difficulties in recruiting these workers, part-time employees appear to have favourable attitudes to unions but are unsure as to what unions can do for them. An overwhelming majority of part-time workers have positive attitudes to unions regarding them as important, useful and necessary in order to protect employees. In an survey of part-time female workers attitudes to joining a trade union, the attitudes of those in unorganised workplace was particularly illuminating with many commenting that they did not know what unions could do for them due to their lack of experience or involvement with unions. Specifically, these part time workers did not know what benefits trade union membership could bring them56.

Unions should recognise that there are significant opportunities for recruitment of part-time workers, especially those who are young and female. Work needs to be done in this area to educate part-time employees on the benefits of union membership and to begin to overcome the difficulties noted above.

Black Workers and Trade Unions: Membership and Participation

Figures for black and ethnic minority trade union membership in Scotland are not available. However it seems likely that, with 26% of non-white people being members of trade unions in the UK, the Scottish figure will be similar or lower, given the proportionally lower ethnic minority population in Scotland.

As with women and young workers, black workers are more likely to be employed in traditionally less well-unionised sectors of the economy. The majority of ethnic minority workers in Scotland are employed in the retail and hotel and restaurant sectors. This would suggest that lower unionisation rates in the service sector could be related to lower levels of trade union membership amongst black workers.

If, as with women members, non-white employees in Scotland are significantly less likely to be union members than their white counterparts57 it is logical to look to the fact that black workers are under-represented in union government58.

In contrast to the campaign for gender equality within trade unions, which has a long and well-documented history, the campaign for race equality is less well developed. There has been less written in the academic and policy literature about the issues of representative democracy for ethnic minorities and there is very little literature on the extent of black workers involvement in unions59. However it seems likely that a higher level of black representation in trade unions would encourage more members from ethnic minority backgrounds to come into membership.

The following chart shows how black shop stewards are more likely to place equalities and tackling racism in the workplace higher up the bargaining agenda than white representatives. As these issues are more likely to be of concern to black workers, this suggests that having a greater number of black stewards will encourage greater union membership against black workers.

Figure 6: Stewards' Priorities (Top 3 ranked)

90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

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Black Stewards

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W hite Stewards

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Source: Adapted from Virdee and Grint (1994)60

Meeting the Recruitment Challenge

Despite the very real successes in reversing membership decline over the past few years, trade unions face significant challenges in growing the movement. Evidence suggests that non-members are not antagonistic to union membership rather that they have not been convinced of the relevance of union membership to them.

The task for Scottish trade unions is to reach the next generation of workers with positive messages that much has been, and even more can be, achieved through the collective action of working people in Scotland.

Why Unions Work

There is no contradiction between strong active unions working in defence of their members and modern forward-looking unions expanding the services they offer. Whilst unions are protecting workers against unfair treatment, they also work to strengthen the Scottish economy. The majority of Scotland's top 25 listed companies recognise a trade union and Scottish unions top the list for partnership agreements in the UK61.

Members continue to welcome and support union intervention in the wider economy. However, the first point of contact for potential new members will still be in the workplace on issues of importance to them as individuals or as groups of workers, which is why the Scottish trade union movement has been asking members why unions work for them.

Unions Work...

"As an MP I get lots of cases from people being exploited at work, invariably they are without the protection and help provided by a union. Help yourself be in a union"

Ian Davidson, MP

"It is very important in the present political climate that the unions stay strong ... I have been a member of one union or another for over forty years now and it's probably more important to be involved in the movement now than it ever was."

Richard Wilson, Actor

"Unions work because they provide protection for workers against unfair treatment, discrimination and exploitation in the workplace. People want a voice at work and unions provide that collective voice."

Elaine Smith MSP

"The reason unions work is because of their great sense of togetherness and care for the working class. The union has always stood up for its membership their loyalty can never be underestimated."

Sir Alex Ferguson CBE

Why do members say that unions work for them?

Whilst researchers have asked the question "why are you a member of a union?" in many different ways, certain key themes recur.

The broad category of "support if I had a problem at work" is, overwhelmingly, the most popular reason given for trade union membership. "Improved pay and conditions" is the next most significant factor with a general "belief" in trade unions; "free legal advice"; and "most people at work are members" also being given as key reasons.

Within the first two categories a significant number of workers, particularly women, give equal pay and anti-discrimination policy in general as key reasons for membership.

Table 3: Reasons for Joining a Union Rank order Reason for joining % 1 Support if I had a problem at work 72.1 2 Improved pay and conditions 36.4 3 Because I believe in TUs 16.2 4 Free legal advice 15.1 5 Most people at work are members 13.8 6 Professional services 6.2 7 Training and education 5.0 8 Industrial benefits 4.4 9 Financial services 3.5 Other reasons 6.9 Source: Adapted from Waddington and Whitson62

A section of members increasingly identify workplace education/training and health and safety as important reasons for joining.

The year on year increase in the number of union members becoming Health & Safety and Learning Reps suggests that this will be a growth category in years to come.

Unions Work on Support at Work...

`Support if I had a problem at work is consistently ranked as the top reason for members joining trade unions as table 1 above illustrates.

Support from trade unions is particularly associated with employment tribunal representation, in terms of financial assistance, guidance and moral support. A survey of STUC affiliates conducted in 2004 found that, in the previous 12 months,

trade unions in Scotland won over £25 million in compensation on behalf of their members on personal injury and employment appeal tribunal cases.

Unions Work...on Support at Work

James McKenna was employed in the rail industry from 1986 1999 when he was medically retired.

James won a landmark case against his employers, gaining compensation of £212,000 for Vibration White Finger suffered after years of working with vibration tools. The settlement set a precedent which undermined a key defence used by employers in such cases.

RMT solicitors Drummond Miller said:

"This case was won due to a barrage of expensive expert evidence carefully assembled ... this could not have been achieved without Union support as the risks would have made it unattractive for so called "no win no fee" companies and their Insurers"

Additionally, unions play a major role in the resolution of disputes between individual employees and their employers prior to tribunal involvement. Both dismissal and disciplinary sanctions rates are lower when unions have a more significant presence63.

Research on unions and the service sector shows that more than 70% of employers in the hotel and restaurant sector had made one or more dismissal in the preceding 12 months, with a mean rate of 8.5 per 100 employees64. Only 7% of employees in this sector belong to a trade union65. This demonstrates the protection that unions can offer when their members are faced with dismissal.

Research shows that 85% of employees in unionised workplaces believe protecting against unfair treatment' is avery important' priority for unions. These employees say that trade unions perform even better at this task than they do at pay bargaining, with 21% of all employees rating unions as excellent' and another 42% rating them asgood'. Union members are even more positive, with 25% rating them as excellent' and 45% asgood'66.

Turning to non-union members, evidence shows that three quarters of non- unionised employees would prefer union representation on issues relating to disciplinary issues67 supporting the view that highlighting unions' pivotal role and effectiveness in this area can be a key strategy for recruitment.

Unions Work for Improved Pay and Conditions...

Individuals are more likely to join a trade union when they believe that the benefits of doing so outweigh the costs.

Unions Work on Improved Pay

Unionised workplaces pay higher wages than comparable non-unionised ones68. Research shows that the gap between union and non-union workers varies between 7 and 10%, with trade union members receiving a positive union wage effect69. Evidence also suggests that the pay dispersal for unionised employees is lower than the spread amongst their non-union counterparts70, suggesting that unions are effective in reducing inequalities in pay.

Unions Work for Collective Bargaining

The majority of achievements of trade unions for their members in Scotland are a direct effect of bargaining agreements. Since the 1999 Employment Relations Act significant progress has been made in the achievement of new recognition deals.

· In the four years preceding the 1999 Employment Relations Act, new recognition deals numbered 354 in the UK. In the four years following the Act the total number of new deals was 1101 an increase of over 300%71; · Union recognition in Scotland per number of employees and per number of workplaces significantly exceeds the UK average, with 69% of Scottish workers covered by collective agreements compared to a UK figure of 57%72; · Union recognition in the private sector remains low at 22%73; · For every trade union member in Scotland, there is another non-member who benefits from working in a recognised union workplace.

Unions Work for Improved Conditions

· Unionised workers receive, on average, 5½ days extra paid holiday entitlement74. This translates as 28 days annual leave for a unionised worker compared with 23 for comparable non-unionised employees;

· While job insecurity is cited as a reason for individuals to become union members, overall, trade unions tend to increase job security75;

· Trade union presence in the workplace increases access to a company pension scheme76;

· Workplaces with at least one recognised union are twice as likely than non- unionised workplaces to have family friendly policies, such as parental leave

policies, special paid family leave, childcare facilities or subsidies and job sharing arrangements77;

· Trade unions have been successful, through partnership with government in delivering new legal rights and protections for working people. Since 1997, trade unions have helped to deliver 21 different new positive laws for working people, from the minimum wage, to information and consultation rights.

Unions Work...with Government

This government has worked in partnership with the trade union movement to make workplaces fairer and to introduce new rights at work. Trade unions are crucial in promoting and enforcing these rights. Trade Union membership is as important and relevant today as it has ever been."

Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP, Secretary of State for Scotland

Unions Work for Equality Bargaining...

Unions Work on Equal Pay

Unions reduce the pay distribution for unionised workers. Evidence shows that female union members, on average, earn £8.37 per hour whilst the average hourly wage for female non-unionised members is £6.2578. This is a difference of 25%.

Furthermore, unions engage in `equality bargaining' which prioritises equal pay and treatment and seeks reform of pay structures to the benefit of women and black workers. It is thought that in the absence of unions, the pay differential between men and women would be some 3% more than it currently is. The pay gap between white and non-white employees is narrowed by 9% when workers are union members79.

Unions Work...on Equal Pay

"When I found out that I was being paid less than the person who did the job before me a man - I approached my employer but they were not interested so I contacted the GMB. They took on the case and helped me win. I took on another job and found the same situation GMB provided the same support and I won again. I wouldn't have been able to challenge these cases on my own without a union"

Yvonne Trotter, Union Member

Unions Work on Family Friendly Policies

Trade union membership has much to offer working parents, in particular women, in terms of the availability of family friendly working policies as the following table illustrates:

Table 4: Family Friendly Policies in the Workplace Proportion of workplaces (unless otherwise stated) No Union Union Recognition Family friendly policies Recognition Parental leave 54.5 21.8 Working from home 15.3 10.9 Term time only contracts 24.2 10.0 Switching from full- to part-time employment 58.2 37.8 Job-sharing 48.8 15.4 6.3 1.4 Workplace nursery or nursery linked with workplace Financial help with childcare 5.9 2.6 No family friendly policies (from the 7 above) 22.2 47.5 Flexitime 26.8 12.2 Adapted from Bewley and Fernie (2003)80

Although women trade unionists, along with men, rate health and safety, pay and conditions as the top three activities for union campaigning, 38% of women members rated `working towards provision of childcare for members' as very important compared with 15% of men. It was the most popular choice for women as an issue that unions could do more about, with 25% mentioning it81.

Women members are also twice as likely as men to support more union action to negotiate career breaks and three times as likely to support action negotiating on job-sharing82.

Unions Work...on Family Friendly Policies

In 2003 the GMB in Scotland negotiated an agreement with Whisky producer Glenmorangie. The agreement, which attracted funding from the Department of Trade & Industry's Partnership Fund, seeks to introduce flexible working hours for improved employee morale and motivation by improving work-life balance. The project introduces a system of flexible benefits to enable employees to tailor their own benefits package to better meet their needs.

In March 2004, a poll undertaken on behalf of a Sunday newspaper which judged the popularity of private companies amongst their employees, found that Glenmorangie topped the list as the most popular purely Scottish firm.

Unions Work for Equal Opportunities

In recent years, there has been a shift away from traditional liberal and radical conceptions of equality policy, based on treating everyone the same a sameness' approach towards approaches based around recognising and valuing people's differences adifference' or `diversity' approach83. Unions have made important contributions to addressing labour market inequalities for different groups of employees84.

Although women, black, lesbian and gay and disabled union members themselves have campaigned for greater emphasis on equal opportunities, the majority of the research evidence focuses on the success of women in this area.

Women members rank `working for equal opportunities for women' as the fourth most important activity for unions to be involved in; 69% of women believe it to be very important compared with 39% of men85.

Indeed, union membership does appear to have a very positive impact on the existence of equal opportunities policies in the workplace, with recent evidence showing that 62% of members believe that union performance at delivering equality in the workplace is good or excellent86:

Table 5: Equal Opportunities Policies in the Workplace Proportion of workplaces (unless otherwise stated) Union No Union Equal opportunities policies Recognition Recognition Formal written equal opportunities policy on gender 82.1 42.3 Statistics collected on posts held by gender 40.6 15.4 Monitor promotions by gender 20.6 5.4 Review selection procedures to identify indirect 36.9 9.9 discrimination Measure effects of equal opportunities policy workforce 20.4 4.8 Adapted from Bewley and Fernie (2003)87

Trade unions provide essential support for those facing disadvantage and discrimination in the workplace and in particular, play an important role in pushing for equality issues to be part of the bargaining agenda. 52% of members ranked fighting against racial discrimination' as very important88 indicating support for equal opportunities for all groups, not just women. Further research shows over two thirds (68%) of employees in unionised workplaces think the promotion of equal opportunities for women and ethnic minorities is avery important' priority for unions, with a further 26% believing it is `quite important'89. There has also been a steady increase in trade union interest in lesbian and gay issues and lesbian and gay participation within trade union structures over the last decade. Although discrimination and harassment of lesbians and gay men

at work remains a problem, research has shown that among the five major reasons lesbian and gay workers gave for being able to be openly lesbian or gay at work was their unions ` commitment to lesbian and gay issues90, demonstrating further success for unions at promoting equal opportunities and rights in the workplace.

Unions work on Health & Safety...

"Studies in industrial countries indicate that the role of labour unions in ensuring compliance with health and safety standards is often an important one."

World Bank report, 1995

"The impact of trade unions on workplace health and safety is immensely beneficial. We know that the presence of a recognised union lowers the accident rate by a quarter compared with non-union establishments."

Bill Callaghan, Chair Health and Safety Commission

"78-79 per cent of unionised workplaces reported high compliance with health and safety legislation while only 54-61 per cent of non-unionised workplaces reported such compliance."

Ontario Workplace Health and Safety Agency. Cited in Unions make your workplace safer, Canadian Labour Congress website

There is considerable evidence to support the "Union Safety Effect" where unionized workplaces are found to have significantly fewer workplace injuries than those without unions.

Independent research shows that workplaces with trade union safety reps are twice as safe as those where there is no employee consultation on safety.

Table 6: Union Effect on Workplace Injures Injury Rate per Predicted Injuries 1000 workers per year Joint Union Management 5.3 58,300 Committee No Union and No Committee 10.9 181,500

Source: Adapted from Reilly, Paci and Hall (1995)91

Research from Trinity University in Dublin into health and safety on construction sites in Ireland goes even further than this. The research, "Safety Behaviour in the Construction Sector", found that safety reps are the best way to improve safety on construction sites, and are even better than safety management systems. The report credits the success of safety reps to:

· Pressing management to do what they said they were going to do; · Encouraging workers to report hazards; and · Communicating effectively with the workers, including advising them against unsafe practices.

Preventing injury at work in Scotland...

It can be estimated that 280,000 workplace injuries have been prevented in Scotland since Health and Safety reps were introduced 27 years ago92. Every 20 minutes, an accident is prevented in a Scottish workplace through the work of union health and safety reps.

Unions Work...on Health and Safety and Workplace Education

"Unions work in promoting health and safety because Union members know at first hand what a safe and healthy workplace is all about.

Unions work in promoting learning, because no-one is better placed to engage those in work, or to convince employers that a skilled and knowledgeable workforce is in their interest too."

Lewis Macdonald MSP Deputy First Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning

Union's work through workplace education ...

Scottish trade unions are leading the way in supporting access to the provision of work-based learning. Work-place learning is vital for individual development, vital for the economy and vital for trade union organisation in the future:

· One in three of the UK's top board directors say skills shortages are the most important problem facing their company. · One in three workers say their employer has never offered them training. · Employees with everyday skills needs are twice as likely to be sacked or made redundant than those with good skills.

· 82% of German workers and 71% of French workers have level 2 qualifications (equivalent to five GCSEs/Scottish Standard Grades or an N/SVQ2). In the UK it's 54%. · By 2010, 70% of new jobs in the UK economy will need degree level (level 4) skills93; · Of the 800,000 adults in Scotland who are estimated to have low levels of literacy and numeracy, 650,000 are of working age with 520,000 of these are in employment94.

Scotland has a higher level of skills in its workforce than England but lower productivity than the UK average95. Further, a recent survey found that employers reporting skills problems were more likely to have been growing and to provide training for their staff96. This raises the possibility of extensive latent skill deficiencies, where employers do not recognise that more investment in, or better use of the skills of, their workforce could yield improvements in performance.

Scotland has relatively high participation in learning but this participation is uneven, people who are not working, those using lower levels of skill at work and workers on temporary contracts receive less training. While 86% of non-manual workers had done some learning in the last 3 years, this figure was 70% for skilled manual workers, and 53% for unskilled workers97. For people who have not participated in learning, the key barrier is motivation. The majority of those who have not undertaken any learning in the last 3 years say that they have no intention of returning to learning98.

Trade unions can, therefore, increase learning in the workplace through:

· Championing the benefits of updating skills or learning new ones; · Working with employers to tackle skills gaps in the workplace; · Encouraging more direct provision for employees by working with employers.

The rise and rise of union learning in Scotland

Across the UK over 6,00099 Union Learning Reps are providing expert advice and guidance, and securing learning and training opportunities, that have helped transform the lives tens of thousands of workers.

In Scotland there are now over 620 TUC trained Union Learning Reps with at least 250 more being trained directly through their own union. The Scottish trade union movement is leading the way in establishing ULRs in the workplace.

Figure 7: Union Learning Representatives

Union Learning Reps

0.4 0.3 UK 0.2 Scotland TUC target for 2010 0.1 0 ULRs per thousand employees

Source: STUC data

In the first year alone (1999) the Scottish Union Learning Fund (SULF) funded 5358 training needs analyses. SULF has now provided £3m for 43 learning projects involving 25 unions.

Unions Work...for Workplace Education

A successful life-long learning project in Scotland, which gave over 450 Safeway supermarket workers the opportunity to enhance their skills and knowledge, is now taking a further 40 workers to university. Deli assistants, cashiers, shopfloor staff and managers are among Safeway workers who will be taught new IT skills during a course at the Ayr campus of Paisley University.

Margaret Fleming, USDAW lifelong learning co-ordinator said: "This is a great initiative. It is a win-win situation the employees benefit from improving their skills and knowledge, while the employer gets a more satisfied, confident and skilled workforce"

Over 5,000 USDAW members have returned to some form of learning since the union launched its Lifelong Learning campaign five years ago.

Opening new doors for union activism

In the year 2000 nine out of ten Union Learning Reps came from a background of previous involvement in trade union activities and a large majority were men. By 2003 three out of every ten new Union Learning Reps were being brought into trade union activity for the first time and the majority (59%) were women100.

Lifelong learning is promoting a new generation of trade union activists. More than half of all union learning reps are now directly involved in negotiating learning with employers.

More than two thirds of employees now work in SMEs. Lifelong learning is providing a foothold trade unions in small and medium enterprises. Whilst only

8% of workers in workplaces with 25 or fewer employees are members of trade union, 16% of union learning reps work in companies of less than 50 employees and the number is growing.

Unions Work...for all

"Conservatives are not anti-union. We support the vital role unions' play on conditions of employment and workplace related matters.

The role of unions in securing safer workplaces and in supporting individuals on disciplinary and legal actions, for instance, has been invaluable. Industry needs balance; Unions have an on-going important role."

Phil Gallie MSP

Annex A: References 1 All from Census 2001, General Registrar for Scotland unless otherwise stated 2 Full-time and part-time employee figure does not include full-time students who work part time 3 New Earnings Survey 2003 4 "Key Indicators of women's Position in Britain", Women and Equality Unit, 2002 5 Cabinet Office (2001), "Ethnic Minorities' Economic Performance" 6 CRE (1997), "Employment and Unemployment", CRE Factsheets 7 "Trade union membership: estimates from the Autumn 2003 Labour Force Survey", Labour Market Trends, March 2004 8 STUC membership reports 1980-2004 9 Machin, S (2000), "Union Decline in Britain", British Journal of Industrial Relations, 38:4, pp631-645 10 Labour Force Surveys, 1990-2004 11 TUC (2004), "Focus on recognition - trade union trends survey 04/01" 12 Gall, G (2004), "Union Management Partnership Agreements, Productivity and the Scottish Economy", Scottish Economic Policy Network 13 British Attitudes Surveys (various years) 14 Bryson, A and Gomez (2003), "Why Have Workers Stopped Joining Unions", Policy Studies Institute 15 Healy, J and Engel, N (2003), "Learning to Organise", TUC Discussion Pamphlet 16 "Trade union membership: estimates from the Autumn 2003 Labour Force Survey", Labour Market Trends, March 2004 17 Waddington, J and Kerr, A (2002), "Unions fit for young workers?", Industrial Relations Journal, 33:4, pp298-315 18 Freeman, R and Diamond, W (2003), "Young workers and trade unions" in: H. Gospel and S. Wood (eds), Representing Worker: Union recognition and membership in Britain, pp92-118, London, Routledge 19 Same as reference 18 20 Same as reference 18 21 Same as reference 18 22 Lowe, G.S and Rastin, S (2000), "Organising the Next Generation: Influences on Young Workers' Willingness to Join Unions in Canada", British Journal of Industrial Relations, 38:2, June, pp203-222 23 Payne, J (1989), "Trade Union Membership and Activism Among Young People in Great Britain", British Journal of Industrial Relations, 27:1, March, pp111-132 24 Same as reference 23 25 Same as reference 18 26 Cregan, C and Johnston, S (1990), "An Industrial Relations Approach to the Free Rider Problem: Young People and Trade Union Membership in the UK", British Journal of Industrial Relations, 28:1, March, pp84-104 27 Same as reference 23 28 Same as reference 17 29 Same as reference 18 30 Cregan, C and Johnston, S (1990), "An Industrial Relations Approach to the Free Rider Problem: Young People and Trade Union Membership in the UK", British Journal of Industrial Relations, 28:1, March, pp84-104 31 Same as reference 17 32 Same as reference 18 33 Same as reference 17 34 Blanden, J and Machin, S (2003), "Cross-Generation Correlations of Union Status for Young People in Britain", British Journal of Industrial Relations, 41:3, September, pp391-415; Lowe, G.S and Rastin, S (2000), "Organising the Next Generation: Influences on Young Workers' Willingness to Join Unions in Canada", British Journal of Industrial Relations, 38:2, June, pp203-222 35 Blanden, J and Machin, S (2003), "Cross-Generation Correlations of Union Status for Young People in Britain", British Journal of Industrial Relations, 41:3, September, pp391-415 36 Same as reference 35 37 Same as reference 18 38 TUC (2003), "A Perfect Union?" 39 Same as reference 38 40 Same as reference 38 41 Same as reference 38 42 Same as reference 38 43 Same as reference 38 44 Same as reference 38 45 Waddington, J and Kerr, A (1999), "Membership retention in the public sector", Industrial Relations Journal, 30:2, pp151-165 46 Waddington, J and Kerr, A (1999), "Trying to stem the flow: union membership turnover in the public sector", Industrial Relations Journal, 30:3, pp184-196 47 Same as reference 46 48 STUC membership figures 49 Sinclair, D.M (1995), "The Importance of Sex for the Propensity to Unionise", British Journal of Industrial Relations, 33:2, June, pp175-190 50 Colgan, F and Ledwith, S (2002), "Gender and Diversity: Reshaping union democracy", Employee Relations, 24:2, pp167-189 51 Kirton, G (1999), "Sustaining and Developing Women's Trade Union Activism: A Gendered Project?", Gender, Work and Organisation, 6:4, October, pp213-223 52 Same as reference 51

53 Munro, A (2001), "A Feminist Trade Union Agenda? The Continued Significance of Class, Gender and Race", Gender, Work and Organisation, 8:4, October, pp454-471 54 "Trade union membership: estimates from the Autumn 2003 Labour Force Survey", Labour Market Trends, March 2004 55 GFTU (1997), "Part-time Workers", Briefing 4, http://www.gftu.org.uk/html/briefing4.html 56 Walters, S (2002), "Female Part-time Workers' Attitudes to Trade Unions in Britain", British Journal of Industrial Relations, 40:1, March, pp49-68 57 Brown, S and Sessions, J.G (1998), "Jurassic Union Man? A Profile of the British Trade Union Member", Labour, Vol 12:4, pp773-796 58 From Kirton, G and Greene, A (2000), "Positive Action in Trade Unions? The Case of Women and Black Women", Aston Business School Research Institute 59 Same as reference 59 60 Virdee, S and Grint, K (1994),"Black self organisation in trade unions", The Sociological Review, Vol 42:2, pp202-226 61 Same as reference 12 62 Waddington, J and Whitson, C (1997), "Why Do People Join Unions in a Period of Membership Decline?", British Journal of Industrial Relations, 34:4, pp515-546 63 Knight, K.G and Latreille, P.L (2000), "Discipline, Dismissals and Complaints to Employment Tribunals", British Journal of Industrial Relations, 38:4, pp533-555 64 Same as reference 63 65 Same as reference 15 66 Same as reference 38 67 Bryson, A (2003), "Employee Desire for Unionisation in Britain and its Implications for Union Organising", Policy Studies Institute Discussion Paper 12 68 Metcalf, D (1993). "Industrial Relations and Economic Performance", British Journal of Industrial Relations, 31:2 June, pp255-283 69 Murphy, P.D, Sloane, P.J and Blackaby, D.H (1991), "The Effects of Trade Unions on the Distribution of Earnings: A Sample Selectivity Approach", Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 52:2, pp517-542; Metcalf, D (1993). "Industrial Relations and Economic Performance", British Journal of

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