Union membership

Trade union membership went down by 3.5% in 2008-2009, the first decline in three years, according to the Certification Office.

Its latest annual report says that total membership for the 178 unions for which it has returns was 7,387,898. This is 268,258 lower than in the previous year.

However, the figures in the report are old — many being for the year ending December 2008. More up-to-date figures for TUC unions will be examined in next month’s issue of Labour Research.