Membership of trade unions still in decline

The
proportion of UK employees who are also trade union members has fallen for the
tenth year running, according to a government survey.

Labour
Market Trends, July 2002, shows that the proportion of UK employees with union membership
fell from 29.5 per cent in 2000 to 29.1 per cent in 2001.

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The
report, which draws its results from the annual Labour Force Survey, reveals
that in autumn 2001, 7.6 million UK workers were trade union members, a
reduction of 30,000 since 2000.

A
steep decline in male membership is largely responsible. In Great Britain,
union density for men has fallen from 42 per cent in 1991, to 29 per cent in
2001. Female membership has remained more constant, gradually declining from 32
to 28 per cent over the same period. Since 1997 the proportion of trade union
members in the UK workforce has decreased by 1 per cent overall. This is
despite the actual number of union members increasing by 178,000 over the same
period.  www.statistics.gov.uk