Realising the full potential of unions
Thursday 17 December 2009
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EmailEach day since the beginning of December, the TUC has attempted to get into the Christmas mood. It has launched an online advent calendar. It can be found at www.strongerunions.org
Behind each daily "window" are not little chocolates but facts and figures about the benefit of unions. All the windows, in turn, make up a document called The Union Advantage (see www.tuc.org.uk/extras/unionadvantage.pdf). For example, one states that on average union members receive higher pay, better sickness and pension benefits, more holiday and more flexible working hours than non-members. Another is that the TUC helps unions to get its members and activists to access learning opportunities, whether for their own personal benefit or for the benefit of those they represent. A third is that union reps lower the accident rate by ensuring safe working practices, and reduce ill-health caused by the stress of working long hours, of being bullied and of working in environments with poor lighting and ventilation. Moreover, where there are union reps fewer days are "lost" to accidents and this benefits workers and employers alike. All good stuff and what we would intuitively expect and hope for along the lines of unions do "what they say on the tin" as the Ronseal advert has it. Indeed, the TUC document goes a bit further and suggests that unions are good for not only members and workers but also for employers, communities and society as a whole. The question that arises in my mind is how these facts and figures can get a wider audience so that more workers join unions and, in turn, these workers make their unions stronger. In other words, is it enough to just advertise the wares of unions and hope the union premium is enough to attract workers to the fold? Being aware of the union advantage is not necessarily enough to make workers join. In workplaces with union recognition or a union presence, you can get the advantage of a union without being a union member and without having to pay unions' subs. You are what has become known as a "free rider" and there are three million of these free riders in Britain today. This maybe speaks to the issue that unions should be about more than just instrumental benefit to individual members, important though that is and even if it is based on collectivism. Then there is the issue of the employers. It is silly to ignore the reality that unions give workers a voice and this voice, when it is effective, can lead to a more contented workforce which is more productive than a disgruntled one. But what is the role of a pitch to employers on the explicit basis of "unions are good for business?" More often than not, unions cost employers money - higher wages and so on. Not all of this can be recouped through higher productivity. Unions are often about a workers win, bosses lose situation. So trying to convince non-union employers of the benefit of a union can be a bit like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas. The conclusion from this is that non-union employers need to be forced through pressure rather than argument alone to grant union recognition and to encourage union membership. This pressure can come from force of numbers and the threat to hurt the employers where it hurts - in the pocket. Another problem arises with the presentation of the TUC advent calendar. It is that there is an implicit suggestion that unions do things for members. This is, of course, true to an extent. Unions represent members in disciplinaries and in pay negotiations. But if too many members simply think that unions do things for them then unions are in big trouble. Arguably, the key weakness of unions today is that far too few members see themselves as constituting the union. Consequently, they are not active in their union and this makes each and every union far weaker than it should be. Mobilisation and participation of members are the keys to making unions stronger and increasing the union premium. When members see that their own actions can have a demonstrable, positive effect, there is a possibility that they can move beyond an instrumental collective ideology and towards a more ideological one. So while the TUC has provided a useful service by trying to popularise the benefit of unions in this way, it is on the one hand necessary but not sufficient, and on the other not without problems. But, to end on another Christmas-related theme, I'd like to wish all readers of the Morning Star a very good and relaxing holiday. It's just a pity that it's bound up with Christianity and commercialism. Workers should have holidays as of right because they are workers. Gregor Gall is professor of industrial relations at the University of Hertfordshire g.gall@herts.ac.uk
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