trade union

   An organisation created with the intention of obtaining the best possible living standards and working conditions for its members. Trades unions were legalised by an Act of Parliament in 1824 but for many years struggle to achieve full legal recognition and protection. Today, individual unions such as Amicus and UNISON are involved in collective bargaining over wage levels and in discussions about hours, manning levels, redundancies, the introduction of new technology, security of employment and other issues relating to their members’ interests. Trades unions have in most countries suffered from a shrinking membership, partly as a result of the decline of manufacturing, with new, less-unionised service industries becoming ever more significant in many economies. As a general trend, unions have failed to cater for the growing number of office workers and those in services (often small-scale and harder to motivate) but membership has suffered from other factors such as unemployment, public attitudes, the increase in the amount of part-time working, and the increased diversity of workforces in terms of qualifications and working conditions. Trade union membership fell in Britain every year between 1979 and 1997, before rising each year until 2000 and remaining more or less static ever since. Union density – the proportion of a workforce that belongs to a union – actually rose in 2003 and 2005 for the first time since the 1970s. This is happening because organised labour is finally beginning to penetrate parts of the workforce that used to be off-limits, particularly professional workers and the voluntary sector.