Received from: CWU, National Education Union
Comprising Motion 01, 02 plus amendments and 03
Congress notes that despite some years of growth, union membership been on a downward trend for four decades, currently standing at 22 per cent of the workforce, with less than 50 per cent of public sector workers and less than 12 per cent of private sector workers in a union. Younger workers are also less likely to join a union and new research shows a similar trend with lower-paid workers.
The cause of this is clear. The unbridled growth of the gig economy, outsourcing, agency work, new technologies and AI has encouraged employers to adopt cheaper more fragmented employment models, which are nearly impossible to effectively unionise. The decline in membership has been accompanied by growing inequality. Real wages for most workers are barely above their pre-2008 level.
This is a pivotal time for the trade union movement. The Labour government’s transformative agenda on employment rights offers an unparalleled chance for union growth. Truly realising its potential requires effective organising, particularly in the private sector and amongst young workers. Success hinges on our ability to equip reps and organisers with the skills to leverage new rights and digital tools, fostering inter-union collaboration, and navigating new legislation adeptly.
Congress welcomes the new TUC strategy to support union organising seeing it as crucial for union growth securing high-quality, unionised jobs across the UK. Congress notes the TUC’s digital campaigning and organising support for affiliates, including the new Digital Organisers Academy, as well as the TUC’s Digital Lab supporting digital change in unions.
Congress welcomes the TUC’s expanded trade union education offer. Empowering reps and organisers to fully utilise new Employment Rights Bill provisions is vital for union growth. Congress notes the ongoing issues regarding the funding of in-person TUC Education training for union reps.
Membership has not declined because trade union values are unpopular with working people. Recent experience has proved that assertive trade unionism wins for members and attracts new ones. Collective bargaining is an effective way to redress income inequality and the misery it causes. Individual rights in the workplace can only take us so far – we need a raft of new collective rights and sectoral bargaining agreements, alongside greater cooperation between unions and new models of unionism.
Congress agrees that the TUC:
i. produces concrete steps to establish sectoral collective bargaining and enduring structures that embed union organisation and capacity, including a sectoral bargaining strategy to be agreed by the General Council, and a plan to introduce sectoral level agreements in at least three sectors
ii. convenes a working group and summit to both produce the sectoral bargaining strategy and report to the General Council, in six months, on greater cooperation between unions and new models of trade unionism that can organise more effectively within sectors of the economy based on:
– The co-ordination of a significant organising drive across unions with a commitment to developing a common sectoral bargaining agenda across sectors to be agreed by the General Council. With a focus on tackling inequality, insecure employment and poor working conditions.
– Greater co-operation between unions, and an end to inter-union competition to prioritise the interests of working people.
iii. campaigns for the Labour government to build on the new deal for workers and remove significant legal and structural barriers to trade union organisation, collective bargaining, extending sectoral bargaining agreements in this parliament, to address growing work and wealth inequality. This will include resisting attempts to weaken the provisions of Employment Rights Bill, particularly in relation to issues of recognition and balloting for industrial action
iv. takes action to improve member recruitment and retention through better data analysis, recognising this as a key growth opportunity.
v. provides direct support to affiliated unions in understanding and utilising their data for retention, organising and growth, acknowledging challenges faced by smaller and mid-sized unions.
vi. builds effective links with social justice campaigns that are in the interests of working people.
Congress also calls on the General Council to demand the government to:
a. fulfils its pledge of the “greatest number of insourcings in a generation,” starting with the civil service. Bringing contracts back in-house will boost accountability, improve services, and secure better conditions for workers, including younger workers.
b. makes union recognition, and contribution to established grouped trade union facility time arrangements, a condition for receiving public funding in all sectors, including multi-academy trusts, free schools, and publicly funded independent schools.
Mover: National Education Union
Seconder: Communication Workers Union
Supporters: Accord, NASUWT, Public and Commercial Services Union