The increase of part-time women in the workplace has helped
push trade union membership up to 7.3 million employees, according to a report
published today.
The Trade Union Trends Analysis of the Labour Force Survey,
by the TUC and based on government figures, shows that union membership has
increased by 60,000 from 1999 to 2000.
The growth is due to an increase of 100,000 in part-time
female members in 2000. This highlights the fact that male union members are
decreasing, although the report claims that this could be because of the loss
of 110,000 jobs in the male-dominated industry of manufacturing.
Union density among part-time female workers has increased
two per cent to 23 per cent last year and is up one per cent to 29 per cent
among all women.
This is the first time that density among women employees
has increased since the Labour Force Survey started measuring union membership
in 1989.
A third of all full-time employees are union members as are
more than one-fifth of part-time employees.
The TUC’s general
secretary, John Monks, said, “We must build on the report’s trends, including
recruiting part-time working women, and reach out to the many who have yet to
see that unions are relevant to their job.”
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