UNIONS have welcomed the fourth consecutive annual rise in membership, announced today by the Office for National Statistics.
The 120,000-member increase last year brought total union membership to 6.6 million, 400,000 more than in 2016, but half the 13.2 million peak reached in 1979, when the notoriously anti-union Thatcher government was elected.
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said that the Covid pandemic had “brutally exposed the terrible working conditions and insecurity many workers face,” and that thousands had turned to unions during the crisis to protect their jobs, safety and rights.
Strike Map co-founder HENRY FOWLER discusses the significance of today’s joint union letter to video game giant Rockstar, demanding trade union recognition for its workers. Their conversation highlights how our movement can harness its collective power to rebuild union power across the private sector
Labour’s watered-down legislation won’t protect us from unfair dismissal or ban some zero-hours contracts until 2027 — leaving millions of young people vulnerable to the populist right’s appeal, warns TUC young workers chair FRASER MCGUIRE
Labour must not allow unelected members of the upper house to erode a single provision of the Employment Rights Bill, argues ANDY MCDONALD MP


