Ajw71 wrote:Don't worry. It will all be over soon. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19521535 As I said, self-serving leaderships turn people off.

Ajw71 wrote:Don't worry. It will all be over soon. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19521535 As I said, self-serving leaderships turn people off.

One of the reasons for the fall in union members is mentioned in that BBC article, the ridding of hundreds of thousands of public service jobs, many of whom were union members, the fact that public service jobs are widely seen as having the best in-job terms and benefits may be just a coincidence of course.

The other, and probably main, reason for the drop in union membership is the move towards temporary workers in the past ten years, a move which is now a tsunami, a desperate rush to shed yourself of your own staff and bring in an agency who will compete with other agencies to get you the numbers on your site at the cheapest possible charge rate - in many workforces the person doesn't matter as long as there are the contracted numbers on the shopfloor every day.

I deal extensively with staff agencies and its a massive industry, and very cut-throat, allegiance to an employer is impossible when you don't work for the company you are currently selling your labour to, allegiance to your agency is impossible when they themselves may lose the contract that you are working on next week and you'll have to shift agencies to keep in work - union membership under those circumstances is a non-starter, you have very little tenure of contract and you're on a wage that is kept deliberately low to keep the agency charge rate low so there is little surplus to pay union fees anyway - the first time that a union approaches an agency then their members will find themselves not being contracted out any more until they leave.

Agency work suits some people.

But its not a long term employment plan.

Unfortunately I fear that its here to stay.

Thank goodness though, Jerry. It'll be a much better world to live in.