Disappointing fall in union membership

The official union membership statistics show only bad news for the union movement in 2016. The number of employees who were trade union members fell by 4.2% from the previous year, to 6.22 million. 


Union density (the proportion of employees who are union members) slipped from 24.7% to 23.5%. Density in the public sector dropped significantly, from 54.9% to 52.7%, and in the private sector it fell slightly, from 13.9% to 13.4%.


The proportion of employees whose pay is settled by collective agreement (even though they may not necessarily be union members) slipped slightly from 27.9% to 26.3%.


www.gov.uk/government/statistics/trade-union-statistics-2016