The future of trade unions

Text of Brendan Barber's (TUC General Secretary) City University Vice Chancellor's Lecture

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But of course we also have political relationships.

Partnership is perhaps not the word that first springs to mind when considering union relationships with the current government. And while I dislike the 'awkward squad' school of journalism and the glib and over simplistic use of labels there is a real sense of frustration in the trade union movement at present.

Along with many of my colleagues I have been sharply critical of some government decisions and actions. I believe they confuse the laudable objective of wanting to provide a good climate for business to prosper with vested interest lobbying by some business leaders. I think they confuse too the good flexibility that comes from adaptable companies with skilled staff ready to meet customer preferences with the bad flexibility of easy hire and fire.

I readily acknowledge that there is much to praise. The economy is doing consistently well. Real resources are beginning to flow in to the public sector. Unemployment remains low and there are more jobs in the economy than ever before. I have already pointed to the significant new rights at work. Much of the training and skills work of unions, I referred to earlier, receives funding support from government.

Unions are heavily engaged in the regional development agencies. There has been progress on work/life balance.

We have won a major move forward with a new deal to tackle the two tier workforce in local government, where too often the gains that have been claimed from private sector involvement have turned out to be based on cutting the wages and conditions of low paid staff. And of course on all the issues on our agenda we get the chance to make our case directly across the table with ministers in a way that was crudely denied during the long years of the Tory Government.

Despite all the positive developments there are two key issues on which distance between the Government and the unions has grown uncomfortably large.

The first is the impression that they have consistently given of a preference for the private sector over the public - an apparent view that the virtues of innovation and sharp management will best be served if you go private. Not only do I think that the evidence fails to support this, the perception that this is the Government's view does immense damage to the morale of the very public servants whose commitment is desperately needed if we are to see the improvements we all want based on the investment now flowing in to our key public services. The need to secure real improvements in our public services is absolutely at the heart of Labour's second term and the electorates' judgement will hinge critically on whether Labour have delivered. Far better for them to win public servants to become ambassadors for their services, and the improvements being made, rather than alienated dissidents.

The second key problem is that there is a basic lack of an agenda for the workplace for the second term to build on the very real gains - the minimum wage, union recognition and signing up to the European social chapter, that were union highlights in the first term and a absence of a vision for a positive union role in meeting up to the real challenges in our economy, which include the key need to achieve productivity levels up to the level of our overseas industrial competitors.

Too often the Government gives the appearance of needing to be pushed and prodded into the positive moves they do make rather than putting the case for workplace fairness at the centre of their vision for a modern, progressive, advancing economy.

So what is the future for trade unions?

I hope I have made clear that we have one. We have stopped our decline. We have firm bases in a range of sectors. Whatever our frustrations we have union influence in the political sphere - not just at Westminster, but the devolved administrations too.

Devolution and reforms to deepen democracy may not make newspaper headlines but, the fact is, Westminster no longer monopolises the political universe.

Slowly but surely a new political culture is emerging in the UK, offering new opportunities for the TUC and unions to get the voice of working people heard.

This new political culture looks and feels very different to that of the green and red benches. It provides a different quality of representation, often more open and accessible; perhaps less burdened by tradition, pomp and ceremony.

While far from perfect, the Scottish Parliament, the Wales Assembly and - soon, I believe, regional assemblies - are able to reach parts of the people that 'London' has failed to reach. The GLA too is giving a very different expression to the needs and aspirations of those who live and work in the Capital than would be possible through Westminster alone.

And of course this year Wales became the first legislative body in the world to achieve 50:50 representation of men and women. So that for the first time what used to be tagged disparagingly as 'women's issues' - equal pay, childcare and support services - are now seen as people's issues - and moreover have become absolutely central to the public policy agenda.

Devolution is also providing the UK as a whole with very different models for doing things. It makes it possible for unions to press Government to try a different way.

Take public services. Why should PFI be held up as the holy grail for public service modernisation when Wales has shown that services can be reformed from within?

Why should English teachers believe that a contractual limit on their hours is asking the impossible when Scotland has delivered precisely that for its own?

And of course we play an important part in European institutions to help shape the Social Dimension of the European union. John Monks as the new General Secretary of the ETUC will be a powerful new force for good in that arena.

We have a clear sense of purpose. Yes, we stand ready to take on bad employers, fight exploitation and press for social justice. But we do this in a real world where we know our members want, and need, to work for successful organisations in a prosperous and productive economy.

We provide a good range of services for our members. Unions will always play our traditional role of standing ready to help when things go wrong, but we are developing new roles - such as learning - that help people get on at work, as well as get even.

But this does not mean that I am in any way complacent. There are very real challenges that unions face.

First, while we have done well to stop the fall in our membership, we have yet to achieve steady growth and I want us to be seen to be a growing force again.

Some of that can come from better recruitment and organisation in workplaces and sectors where we are already established.

But we also need to break into the modern service sector economy. There are more jobs in the public sector, but the real employment growth is going to come from the kind of workplaces where we have not been very successful at organising. This is not just a challenge for us to market ourselves better - though we must - but also to ask some hard questions about whether we need to change even further to make ourselves relevant to these groups.

Unions draw great strength from our democratic and voluntary roots, but we are also players in a modern service economy and we must make sure our members' experience of dealing with their union is fast, efficient and effective - as good as the best of the other organisations and companies with which they will deal. And that's a real challenge as the front window for unions is normally a hard pressed local rep trying to combine union work with a busy job and all the other pressures of modern life.

Second, we must develop better political relationships, not just with this government but with the other parties as well.

In many European countries it is possible for unions to have relaxed relationships across the political spectrum. They recognise that the process of social partnership has much to offer, as indeed as it has done in the UK on some issues - most notably the setting of the minimum wage.

I don't expect everything we want to be won. Governments must govern in the interests of the country as a whole, we recognise that. But I do expect a better process of engagement.

Thirdly we need to make sure that we are campaigning on a broad agenda that touches all our members. The high profile political issues make the news, but we must be rooted in the workplace. We still have a huge job to do battling against low pay. Almost a fifth of fulltime workers earn £250 a week or less. Campaigning against the growing inequality in our country must be a key mission, but other issues rooted in the real working lives of our members - issues like pensions, stress, work-life balance, bullying, discrimination, the chance to learn new skills, making jobs more rewarding and interesting, and productivity these must all be key union concerns too.

Lastly, let me set out what I believe is our great opportunity in the years ahead.

Thanks to a European Directive, every company or organisation that employs more than 50 will soon need to have a means of consulting and informing their staff where their staff want this. This is often called the works council directive, and while this is not an entirely accurate description, it does signal just how significant a change this will be. The Government, the TUC and the CBI are currently discussing how this should now be incorporated into British law.

I have high hopes for this change. My belief is that once people get into the habit of consulting and informing, it will lead to a cultural change at the workplace that will both encourage partnership and make both employees and employers see the sense of involving the professionals - trade unions - in the process. It could act as a real spur to the development of more high performance workplaces - and more satisfying working lives for many more workers.

So while I recognise the challenges and difficulties we face, I am overwhelmingly confident that unions have a secure future with exciting opportunities ahead.

If unions did not exist, someone would have to invent them. Employers need to talk to employees, government needs views from the workplace and above all, employees need a collective voice.

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