Health & Safety Training Ltd

The Decline of Construction Unions

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The Decline of Construction Unions

The last few decades have seen union memberships fall across all industries and sectors, and the construction industry is no exception. According to Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the construction industry has seen the highest regular annual decline in membership.

In the 1970s and throughout the 1980s, unions had the power to bring a site to a complete standstill, with representatives using the threat of strikes to negotiate for better pay and conditions for workers. But now, new statistics from BIS, shows that less 14% of workers are a member of a union.

This figure might be quite shocking for those with long-term experience in the industry, who have become used to relying on their union reps for advice and protection, but new workers, who don’t have the same level of experience, are much less likely to be aware of the implications of not being part of a union.

The Decline

Records for union membership only began in 1995, when 30.3% of workers were recorded as members of a union. During the recession membership rates fell on average 5% every year, leading to the lowest ever level of membership in 2013 with just 176,000 workers (13.8%). Last year, this figure rose slightly for the first time to 182,000, but considering there are 1.3 million workers in construction, this figure is still very low.

Demographic Change

Many believe the decline in union membership is down to the major shift in demographics over the past decades. Older workers, who are more likely to be union members, are retiring, and because of the industry’s skills shortage caused by the recession, they are being replaced with agency workers and skilled workers from overseas.

This shift in demographics, which features many workers and subcontractors from different agencies on the same site, makes it much more difficult to establish a union/employer relationship, than if all the workers are directly employed by the site owner.

Union Action

There are others that believe the unions themselves are to blame for their declining members, as they no longer actively lobby construction sites to gain access to workers who may not be aware of the benefits of being in a union. This could be down to dwindling resources; fewer member fees and cuts to funding, make it difficult for unions to function in the same way as before. And again, due to the rise in subcontractors on site, it is more difficult to gain access to all of the workers.

Many union representatives now only make site visits, if there is an incident requiring union representation or if they are requested to by an employer.

The Blacklist Scandal

One of the biggest causes for membership decline is the blacklist scandal, uncovered in 2008. Workers were allegedly denied employment, or removed from sites on the grounds they had a history of speaking out against health and safety concerns, or were known to be part of a union.

This is has never been fully proven, despite many believing the practice was not only rife, but blatant, and there are theories that the practice of blacklisting unionised workers is still ongoing in the construction industry. Most employers are either denying blacklisting ever happened, or say it is a thing of the past that affected very few workers, but it is still a major concern for many workers who can not risk losing their job by becoming part of a union.

Proactive Employers

As an employer, promoting union membership can seem like a dangerous idea, but if you operate legally and within safe working practices, it should not be a concern. Encouraging membership can actually make your workplace more productive, as workers are unlikely to cut corners themselves to get a job done for fear of missing deadline. They will feel protected, valued and united as a workforce, leading to higher morale and a more efficient site.

But whichever side of the fence you sit on regarding unions, it is your duty to establish safe working practices for your employees. One of the best ways to ensure health and safety is upheld is to provide regular training for your workers, keeping them up to date with changes in legislation and ensuring they have the skills and qualification to operate the requires tools and equipment.

The team at Health and Safety Training Ltd have years of experience tailoring training courses for a wide range of industries and workplaces, from forklift training, to general health and safety training and risk assessment training. For any more information to discuss your training requirements – simply get in touch today.

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