Where are the workers? Where are unions?

By Becky Wright, Executive Director Unions 21 | 3 min

Recently, Unions 21 completed the initial module of its Future Leaders programme, which explored the importance of effective strategy, purpose, and planning. As part of this, we asked the participants from a variety of unions to identify the influence their union wields within its external environment. This involves a thorough assessment of the changing labour market and workforce demographics.

This can be challenging for unions. Especially when we think about the fact that for the vast majority of us, our unions are based in industries from the industrial revolution onwards.

Adapting to Change

It is imperative for unions to analyse these changes in relation to their membership to evaluate their effectiveness in representing today's workers and their preparedness for the future workforce.

Adapting to the rapidly evolving landscape of work in the 21st century is a necessity for unions across all sectors. Our previous publications have outlined projected changes in the UK labor market and called upon unions to assess their readiness. The need to support unions in this work continues.

This will be a key part of our trade union renewal insight work as we delve into how unions approach emerging sectors, whether they are whole new industries or changes to occupations within existing spaces.

Remaining relevant and representative

To maintain their position as the voice of workers, unions must have a presence where workers are. Disregarding these shifts puts unions at risk of becoming irrelevant. While the nature of change varies by geographic and cultural context, all unions should proactively explore what they need to know and how to evolve.

How you can be involved

Over the course of this year, we will be organising a series of roundtables, training and insight reports to help you and your union. We are keen to involve unions across the globe who are willing to share best practice and take part. Coming up this quarter we have:

Projects

Sign up! We are seeking unions to join a pilot group interested in experimenting with segmentation. Segmentation aims to help unions better understand their membership by dividing them into subgroups based on shared characteristics, needs, and motivations. The goal is to develop best practices and tools that enable all unions to effectively tailor communications, develop targeted programs, and improve member engagement by demonstrating an understanding of the unique concerns of each segment of their membership.

We would also welcome insights from unions that have already conducted segmentation analyses.