Publications and further information The TUC publishes a wide range of reports, leaflets, books and DVDs. We also produce a downloadable educational resource pack for schools and youth organisations, A Better Way to Work, to help young people prepare for the world of work. We have an extensive website at www.tuc.org.uk. This contains press statements, campaign news, policy briefings, statistical information and publications for sale. Register online for free email news updates matching your areas of interest. Reprint of revised edition May 2010 4K Design: Eureka! Print: College Hill Press ISBN 978 1 85006 862 4 Contact details: Trades Union Congress Congress House Great Russell Street London WC1B 3LS Tel: 020 7636 4030 Fax: 020 7636 0632 www.tuc.org.uk If you do not belong to a union and want to know which Trade unions one to join, phone the TUC ‘Join a Union’ line on: 0870 600 4882 at work Calls are charged at the national rate. Front cover photo: For more information about the TUC’s different activities what they are and what they do try one of our websites: John Harris/reportdigital.co.uk www.tuc.org.uk (main site) www.worksmart.org.uk (help and advice for everyone at work) www.unionlearn.org.uk (for learners and learning reps) www.unionhistory.info (TUC archives online) Printed on a FSC Certified Product Including a guide to the Trades Union Congress Contents Introduction 03 Introduction: The world of work the world of work 04 Section 1: Unions today 12 Section 2: The TUC 22 Glossary Work dominates modern life. In Britain today there are more than 29 million people in paid employment. Most people spend up to a quarter of their lives at work – longer, on average, than anywhere else in Europe. Work can be satisfying, enjoyable and rewarding, and most employers treat their workers fairly. But some do not. When the TUC ran a bad bosses hotline over 5,000 people in one week called to complain about the way they were treated by their employer. And even the best bosses can make mistakes from time to time. That is where unions come in. Unions exist to help people at work. Unions want to make the workplace a better place. This pamphlet explains how unions work in modern Britain: the job they do for their members; the way they help boost business; and how they help make Britain a better place to live and work. Simon Weller Photo: 02 + 03 Section 1 Ten things unions do for their members Give advice when members have a problem at work. trade unions today Represent members in discussions with employers. Help improve wages and working conditions by negotiating with employers. Make sure that members’ legal rights are enforced at work, in employment tribunals and even in the courts. Support the thousands of union members who act as volunteer union representatives in workplaces. Provide education and training courses for workplace representatives – including health and safety reps and learning reps. Broker learning opportunities for members. Fight discrimination and help promote equal opportunities at work. Provide services for individual members such as More than six million people belong to TUC CASE STUDY welfare benefits, personal legal help, financial unions: that is almost one worker in every five. services, discounts on insurance and holidays. Pensions for part-timers Wherever people work there are union members Lobby the Government and others in support – or potential union members. After a legal ruling that of policies and laws that help people at work. part-time workers had Trade unionists do all sorts of jobs: they include factory the right to be members workers and computer programmers; office staff and of occupational pension shop assistants; bus drivers and airline pilots; teachers schemes, many unions and soap stars; musicians and motor mechanics; joined the TUC in applying footballers and chiropodists. to the courts to ensure Union members include men and women; full-time and that the new rights were part-time workers; people in big businesses, and those backdated. After a five- in small ones; people who work for the Government year battle in the courts, and those who work for themselves. involving 22 test cases and culminating in a ruling Union members are no different to anyone else, by the European Court except they tend to be better paid and have better of Justice, thousands of working conditions because they have someone to part-timers won the right stand up for them. to claim benefits they had been denied for years. Duncan Phillips/reportdigital.co.uk Photo: 04 + 05 Five facts about unions Why unions? The vast majority of the top 50 companies CASE STUDY Unions work on the simple principle that while an CASE STUDY have formal bargaining agreements with unions. employer might be able to ignore the views of a single Sick building syndrome No more needles This is called ‘recognition’. worker, if all workers speak with one voice the employer In Tower Hamlets, safety has to take notice. Unions encourage their members to In North Lanarkshire safety Unions win more than £320m a year in representative ­­Adrian take part in collective decisions on workplace issues and representative Jim Cowan compensation for members who suffer injuries, Grieves noticed high levels these views are then put to the employer. found that caretakers in tower or who are discriminated against at work. of sickness absence in two blocks were finding discarded Accident rates are higher for non-union members, new buildings. He raised needles and were expected who are twice as likely to be seriously injured this with management and to deal with them despite as those who work in places where there are Unions internationally asked the Health and Safety having no training or special union safety representatives. Executive to investigate. This equipment. After the union • There have been unions in Britain for well over The average union member earns more than led to an improvement notice intervened specialist disposal a hundred years. the average non-member. For example, in private being served and a major was arranged by the council. companies the union ‘mark-up’ gives members refurbishment, including a • Today there are unions in virtually every country an extra 7p in the £. new ventilation system that in the world. has dramatically decreased The average union member gets seven days more • The International Trade Union Confederation, which levels of sickness. paid holiday (30 days of annual leave, excluding represents unions around the world, currently has bank holidays) than the average non-member 168 million members in 155 countries. (23 days). • In countries as far apart as Zimbabwe and Bangladesh Almost every improvement in workplace conditions unions are at the forefront of campaigns for major – for example, equal pay laws, stronger health social change. and safety legislation, statutory redundancy pay, the National Minimum Wage and better rights for agency workers – came about following pressure from trade unions. Jess Hurd/reportdigital.co.uk John Birdsall/Press Association Images Simon Weller Photo: Photo: Photo: 06 + 07 How unions work In bigger workplaces there will be a number of representatives, sometimes from different unions, speaking Union members in the same workplace will get together on behalf of different groups of workers. And in very big from time to time to talk about common problems. workplaces some of these union representatives will spend The issues most likely to come up are pay and pensions, much of their working day dealing with union business, safety, unfair treatment of a group or individual, or simply talking to management and solving problems on behalf the way work is organised. The union members will of their members. usually elect someone to speak on their behalf – a shop Most sensible employers welcome these arrangements. steward or ‘representative’. This representive – or ‘rep’ – will They understand it is better for workers to have an then discuss their concerns with management. Where the independent means of dealing with problems rather than union has a recognition agreement with management they letting them fester, or hoping they will be sorted out will have regular formal discussions. by the supervisors or line managers who are sometimes the cause of the problems. Working together Unions contribute to the success of an enterprise by helping employers plan for the future and manage change. Sometimes companies and unions have to find imaginative solutions to changes in demand for goods and services. Working together means both sides can explore ways of bringing benefits to employees as well as the enterprise. By law, where more than 10 per cent of the workforce request it, employers must inform and consult workers about issues in the organisation, but some of the most dynamic companies work routinely with the unions to keep their workforce informed on crucial issues. In large companies that operate in more than one EU country European Works Councils, in which unions reps often play a part, are consultated where big changes or redundancies are planned. Learning with unions Unions aren’t just about work: they also help members get on in life by offering learning and skills opportunities. These include literacy, numeracy and language courses, and the chance to progress in further and higher education. A union’s specialist adviser in this area is called a union learning rep. John Harris/reportdigital.co.uk Photo: 08 + 09 Beyond the workplace The changing membership Union members from different workplaces in the same Some people join a union when they start work and CASE STUDY area meet in union branches. There will often be regional don’t leave until they retire. Dyslexia brought to book committees too, and in all cases a national body elected But today most people change jobs a number of times by the members to run the union.