The State of the Unions

The 2009 TUC seems to have passed off quite well. A little bit of drama and passion at the end with the supposed fisty cuffs at General Council over a boycott of Israel - which turned eventually (inevitably?) into the classic TUC fudge on the Congress floor.

I think this year (this is utterly subjective) that it got a higher profile in the media than in the past - which is good. The wildcat strikes and factory occupations have reminded the media that unions exist and have provided good copy for them.

But there is trouble at’ mill in the union movement. Membership is well down from our 1970's peak and although lately stable in numbers - all important density is down, especially in the private sector. All of us know this, even though of course, we cannot all agree on what to do about it.

Or, if we are all really, really honest I think we are genuinely unsure and and uncharacteristically uncertain what to do.

The New Statesman supplement for the TUC congress on trade unions is useful and in the near future I will try and post something useful on the union "State We’re In” and the possible ways forward.