Public sector staff dominate trade union membership

The
number of trade union members in the UK has remained largely static, with
public sector employees continuing to dominate membership, according to new
government figures.

The
National Statistics publication, ‘Trade union membership 2003’, published today
by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), shows almost three in five
public sector employees in the UK are union members, while less than one in
five private sector employees are union members.

In
autumn 2003, an estimated 7.38m people in employment in the UK were members of
a trade union. This was an increase of 0.4 per cent or around 27,000 people,
compared with levels recorded in autumn 2002.

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The
hourly earnings of union members averaged £11.06 in autumn 2003, 17.7 per cent
more than the earnings of non-union employees.

By Michael Millar