Putting trade unions at the heart of the new social contract

150 years ago, the trade union movement gathered for its first ever Congress at the Mechanics Institute in Manchester.  

A century and a half later, our solution for social justice remains fundamentally unchanged: collective bargaining.  

Time and time again, our movement has proved that when working people come together, agree their demands and sit down with their employer to negotiate, they win. 

Whether we’re talking about better pay, better terms and conditions, or better use of tech in the workplace, collective bargaining is the only thing that can balance the coercive power of bosses and bring workers together in common cause. 

Challenging times 

Organising workers collectively within a trade union is a way of making change that’s unique to our movement.  

It works even when governments are hostile or the technology that shapes workplaces is changing – and there’s no doubt that trade unions face both those challenges today.  

After eight long years of austerity, workers are enduring the longest wage squeeze in two hundred years.  

Almost four million people are now in some form of insecure work, with 780,000 on zero-hours contracts alone. And new technology is replacing jobs in many traditional industries and creating more precarious ones in others. 

That’s why revitalising collective bargaining is so indispensable to tackling social justice.

Stronger unions, lower inequality 

This isn’t just about getting trade union membership up, but about increasing the number of workplaces with union representation.   

Because the evidence from our history is clear: stronger unions means less inequality.  

In the last century, inequality was at its lowest in both the UK and the US when trade union density was at its highest. And ever since, inequality has been on the rise. 

Unions make such a difference because collective bargaining can raise pay and terms and conditions in ways laws alone can’t.  

Unions negotiate to give everyone a better deal, no matter your wage level. 

This brings more good jobs with decent pay, secure contracts, and safer workplaces – all things that help cut inequality. 

Future of work 

Strong unions help equip workers with the tools they need to cope with the changing world of work. Last year, more than 250,000 workers got into training or learning brokered through their union.   

AI, robots and automation are all changing the workplace. Unions like Unite are already leading the way negotiating how new tech is implemented in workplaces, with the priority to keep good skilled jobs even as those jobs change.  

A collective approach is the only way to ensure working people transition from good jobs that are ending to good new jobs with a long-term future. 

Because we won’t leave people struggling on zero hours contracts or agency work, and we’ll never abandon people to get by on their own.

Opportunity for all 

We want every worker to share the benefits of new tech. 

The government says robots and autonomous systems could boost UK GDP by £200bn per year, but if all that wealth is hoarded by bosses and shareholders then more inequality is inevitable. 

This wealth can be shared with working people in one of two ways: by raising their pay, or by keeping their pay the same but cutting their hours.  

That’s why Frances O’Grady has raised the possibility of the UK moving to a four-day working week – as a way to share the wealth that new technology could bring. But the only way to get that is by getting unions into workplaces to negotiate with bosses and win a better deal.

How do we get more people the benefits of collective bargaining? 

First, we need to unshackle unions from the rules of the past. 

That means tearing up anti-trade union rules from another era – like the rule that says we need to ballot people by post rather than using digital technologies like every other organisation.  

Second, we need to make improving collective bargaining a public policy priority. 

That means a new package of union rights for the modern workplace – starting with the right for unions to go into in every workplace.  

And we need to think more widely about how to take collective bargaining into sectors where unions aren’t strong. 

One solution is sector collective bargaining, where government, unions and employers come together to agree minimum standards across an industry. 

Finally, employers need to be duty-bound to bargain with a union on everything that matters to workers. 

This will make it clear to anti-democratic employers that talking to your workers and their unions is no longer optional, starting the long road to better pay and conditions for everyone.  

So, if we want to fight inequality now and in the future then collective bargaining is indispensable.

It’s the big solution to lock in social justice.

Antonia Bance is Head of Campaigns and Communications at the Trades Union Congress (TUC)