Will workers’ voices shape business and Government recovery plans following COVID?
Posted on
Unions have played a pivotal role in protecting and supporting workers during the COVID-19 crisis, from helping to shape arrangements for furloughed workers to pressing for clear health and safety guidance for those who have been working on site during the lockdown.
But in a new paper on Worker Voice to mark the Work Foundation’s centenary, David Coats emphasises that “the decline in union membership and collective bargaining coverage is the most momentous change in the British labour market over the last forty years”. Coats outlines that although a series of legislative reforms have supported union engagement within the UK, use of these new arrangements has been limited.
Although written before the COVID-19 crisis, Coats’ paper takes a long view of the effectiveness of Worker Voice within the UK, and his practical recommendations for strengthening unions are particularly salient as we enter another recession. With large numbers of workers being called back to shops, construction sites, factories and warehouses, effective channels for raising concerns regarding workplace wellbeing and suggesting improvements will be key. Over the months ahead, as the job retention scheme winds down, firms develop strategies to weather the storm ahead and industries call on Government for enhanced support, unions will be essential in ensuring that the experiences and needs of workers remain central to the Government’s agenda.
The growing importance of unions within the current context may already be bringing about an uptick in engagement. Several unions have reported a spike in membership requests since COVID-19 hit the UK, including within sectors like social care which have been at the front line of the crisis. This aligns with longer term trends in membership, which has increased slightly for each of the last three years following decades of steady decline.
Coats proposes that the scope for collective bargaining should be extended, allowing Unions a right to negotiate on a wider range of matters affecting their workplace, which could be particularly important where new working practices are being implemented to comply with social distancing measures. Coats’ proposals to introduce a national dialogue to protect and improve working conditions in low pay industries will carry additional importance as several sectors all for bailout packages from Government. Crucially, given that less than a quarter of workers are currently union members, Coats recommends pursuing other routes to strengthening worker voice, such as facilitating the election of worker representatives where trades unions aren’t recognised.
He argues that all too often, debate about the roles of trades unions in the UK is polarised, with division between those pushing for deregulation on one hand, and others calling for abolishing all anti-union laws on the other. This has meant that successive opportunities to collaborate, to solve problems constructively and to strengthen worker voice have been missed.
As we all adapt to the evolving circumstances in which we now find ourselves, it’s essential that Government and Unions continue to adapt their own approaches to engagement to ensure that workers have a platform to participate in discussions that will shape our working lives over the months ahead.
Related Blogs
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed by our bloggers and those providing comments are personal, and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of Lancaster University. Responsibility for the accuracy of any of the information contained within blog posts belongs to the blogger.
Back to blog listing