UNISON Skills for Strength Convention

Richard SaundryAssociate Professor in Human Resource and Leadership Studies

Richard.Saundry@Plymouth.ac.uk

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/richard-saundry/2a/428/421

Twitter - @RichardSaundry

The Scale of the Challenge

• Declining density 1980 – 55%; 1995 – 32%; 2013 – 26%

• A generational issue? 16-24 yrs – 8%; 25-34 yrs – 21% (source:LFS)

• It’s not just about membership– 23% employees covered by collective bargaining– 7% of all workplaces were unionised and had an on-

site representative – 32% of unionised workplaces had an on-site

representative (source:WERS2011)

Why it matters - membership and income inequality

Collective bargaining and income inequality

We need to talk about union organising

• Prime reason for joining is support – individual and collective

• Recruitment closely related to union presence• Organising has had a positive impact but key

issues remain: – Strong organisation is vital for effective

representation– Building representational capacity underpins

sustainable increases in membership– Supporting and integrating new activists key to

strengthening organisation