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fedsron2us

(2,863 posts)
12. There are something in the region of 6.5 million Union members in the UK
Sat Jul 6, 2013, 05:28 PM
Jul 2013
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/32191/11-p77-trade-union-membership-2010.pdf

Numbers are far lower than in the 1960s and 1970s but they still represent nearly 29% of all workers.

By contrast the major political parties have withered to virtually nothing. For example the Conservative Party which once numbered nearly 3 million now has only about 150,000 members. The Labour party has shrunk from 1 million down to 193,000 members. The Liberal Democrats have about 49,000 members.

http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN05125

Twice as many people belong to trade unions as buy Rupert Murdochs papers the Sun and the Times, and Unite alone has far more members than the Daily Telegraph has readers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_the_United_Kingdom_by_circulation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unite_the_Union

The truth is that the Trade Unions are not a dead weight holding back the Labour Party. It is the other way round.

BTW as a life long Union activist I am not saying everything in the Union movement is roses at present Too many union bosses are remote from their members, turnouts in union elections are appallingly low and some TU officials spend far too much time on advancing personal political agendas than in fighting to defend their members jobs, terms and conditions. That said they are still far more representative of ordinary working people than any other set of institutions in the UK.

The irony of party politicians and media hacks whose own houses are tumbling down around their ears calling Unions outdated should not be lost on people
The scandal Anarcho-Socialist Jul 2013 #1
That was helpful -- thanks. pacalo Jul 2013 #2
And it's shameful to recruit members of your union into your political party to support you ... non sociopath skin Jul 2013 #3
I can't find what the problem was meant to be muriel_volestrangler Jul 2013 #4
A more cynical man that I might think ... non sociopath skin Jul 2013 #5
I now hear that the accusation is some people were signed up without telling them muriel_volestrangler Jul 2013 #7
It would be so - if it turns out to be true Anarcho-Socialist Jul 2013 #8
Police rule out Falkirk vote rigging inquiry muriel_volestrangler Jul 2013 #18
The crushing irony is that one of the reasons so many of the Tory faithful have decamped to UKIP fedsron2us Jul 2013 #9
The thing for me here..... T_i_B Jul 2013 #6
You do not have to be a member of the Labour party to belong to a union fedsron2us Jul 2013 #10
I would guess that even with the sadly successful Thatcherite war against unions... LeftishBrit Jul 2013 #11
There are something in the region of 6.5 million Union members in the UK fedsron2us Jul 2013 #12
Agree on all this LeftishBrit Jul 2013 #13
Well said, Feds non sociopath skin Jul 2013 #14
Great post, thanks n/t Anarcho-Socialist Jul 2013 #15
The problems go deeper then the relationship between Labour & Unions T_i_B Jul 2013 #16
I think it goes even beyond the attractiveness of Labour or any particular party... LeftishBrit Jul 2013 #17
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