How a new breed of trade union is leading the fight for precarious workers

While traditional trade unions face a declining and ageing membership, smaller bodies are organising groups to directly confront the issues of the gig economy.

an article by Imogen West-Kinghts published in the New Statesman


Uber drivers march to the company’s offices in London as part of the IWGB protest October 2018

Millions of people in the UK are in work, but unable to afford the basic needs of life. Nearly two thirds of families living in poverty, as defined by the Social Metrics Commission, have at least one adult in work. Last year the TUC found that one in nine workers – nearly four million people – are in precarious work. The Resolution Foundation predicts that one in three millennials will still be renting in their old age. In previous decade, workers looked to trade unions for protection against low wages and insecurity, but membership of those unions has fallen precipitously. But the landscape of union organisation is changing to meet the challenges of the new economy, and new unions are arriving.

Forty years ago, trade unions were mammoths in the UK’s political landscape, representing more than twelve million of the country’s workers and wielding the power to bring down governments. But since 1979 membership has halved, hitting an all-time low in 2016, and the number of strike days taken has dropped from almost 30 million to around 170,000 in 2017.

Continue reading

---