WORKERS OF THE UK UNITE

Trade union membership is on the rise after a period of decline

Arising number of workers are joining trade unions with the Covid crisis boosting numbers even further.

The latest government statistics on trade union membership revealed that 6.4 million employees across the UK were members of a union in 2019.

The number is up by 91,000 people compared to 2018 - the third year in a row that the number has risen.

It means membership has now largely recovered from a significant fall in numbers in 2016, when 6.2 million employees were members - a record low - having dropped by 267,000 people compared to the year before.

It means nearly 24% of all employees are part of a trade union.

Unions say that the number of members has also increased significantly under lockdown, as employees seek guidance on their rights and entitlements during the crisis.

Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite - the UK’s largest trade union - said: "This continued year on year increase in trade union membership shows that people are seeing the value of unions to protect their jobs and wages and keep them safe at work.

“That’s the case never more so than now and Unite alone has put on many thousands of new members since the lockdown.

"Government ministers have rightly acknowledged the key role unions have been playing through the pandemic, and we urge them to continue to recognise our place in national life and our communities by taking up our offer of deploying our army of health and safety reps to get people back to work safely, and giving us a permanent seat for us at the table to ensure we continue to be part of the national conversation about how we build our way out of this health and economic crisis."

The rise in trade union membership in the last few years has been driven in particular by women.

There were 3.7 million female union members in 2019 - up from 3.5 million in 2018 and 3.4 million in 2017.

Meanwhile, the number of male union members has dropped from nearly 2.9 million in 2017 to fewer than 2.8 million last year.

It means 27% of all female employees are part of a union, compared to 20% of male employees.

Employees are also more likely to be a member the older they are - with only 8% of 16 to 24 year old workers a member compared to 30% of those aged 50 and over.

Public sector workers are also nearly four times more likely to be a member than private sector employees (52% of the workforce compared to 13%).

The length of service also plays a part, with only 11% of workers who have been in their job for less than a year a member, compared to 44% of those who have been employed for 20 years or more.