Top story News and analysis
Could gig economy deals
halt the trade union’s demise?
Union membership is low among young people, but the gig economy could
be an opportunity for unions to boost numbers. By RACHEL MULLER-HEYNDYK
Figure
it out
40%
of trade union
members are
aged 50 or older
4%
are aged 16 to 24
17%
The union density
in manufacturing,
a decline of
more than 15%
since 1995
TUC
The GMB has made a deal with Hermes, but IWGB’s f feud with Uber continues
Adobestock
The gig economy could be the
catalyst for a resurgence in union
membership, according to some
employment experts.
Trade union membership has
declined particularly among young
people, research shows. Analysis from
the TUC found that membership
among 21- to 30-year-olds fell from
20% in 2001 to 15% in 2017.
Margareta Jensen Dickson, group
head of people at ferry operator Stena
Line, emphasised the continued
importance of unions, even in a
landscape of more employee rightsfocused
HR functions. But she said
that she doesn’t believe traditional
unions are doing enough to keep up.
“They unions are vital to us.
People will always need HR to turn to
within the workforce, and they will
always need a union representative
to act outside of it,” she told HR
magazine. “But there is a generational
shift… I definitely worry that
unions are not doing enough for
younger workers or future
generations, for whom the world of
work is changing rapidly.”
In February a deal struck between
courier company Hermes and the
GMB union was seen by many as a
turning point. Following a 2018
employment tribunal GMB agreed to
a deal of optional ‘self-employedplus’
status for riders, which includes
holiday pay (pro rata up to 28 days)
and individually-negotiated pay rates
of at least £8.55 per hour. In return
couriers have to follow delivery
routes specified by Hermes.
The case demonstrates a new more
positive outlook for unions, said Lee
Harding, partner at law firm Morgan,
Lewis & Bockius. “Interestingly a
union can obtain statutory
recognition for both employees and
workers in the UK. So this is a good
way for unions to demonstrate their
value,” he told HR magazine.
“Following the Hermes case the
employer entered into a voluntary
recognition agreement with GMB,
meaning that the union was given a
seat at the negotiating table.”
He added: “Some union activists
see the gig economy as an
opportunity to replenish their
membership as they liken the
working conditions of contractors to
those of ordinary employees at the
start of the Industrial Revolution,
and before we had much of the
employment and social protection
we have for those employees today.”
However, others see this landmark
case as a watering down of union
power. James Farrar is chair of the
United Private Hire Drivers union, a
branch of the Independent Workers
Union of Great Britain (IWGB),
which helped to organise hundreds
of Uber workers striking over low
wages last month. In 2015 Farrar,
along with then-driver Yaseen
Aslam, brought the first tribunal
against the firm which argued that
Uber drivers were workers not selfemployed.
He told HR magazine that
unions should not accept less than
full workers’ rights.
“On the one hand this does show a
victory for workers,” he conceded.
“But I would never be able to
turn around to the workers that I
am representing and say that we
had won a case where our basic
demands have not been met. Either
an employer meets our terms, or
it doesn’t.
“Uber has tried similar tricks with
us, but we won’t accept anything less
than worker status,” he added,
explaining that the firm had offered
insurance cover and paternity and
maternity leave to drivers last
year but with “highly conditional”
terms attached.
Farrar added that generational
differences in union membership
have been overplayed. The bigger
problem is unions’ continued focus
on traditional employees over
“precarious” workers, he said, where
the opportunity to make a bigger
difference as a union perhaps lies.
“We have grown as a union year
on year, and there’s no magic wand
to that; we look at the issues facing
the workforce and we go out, we
talk to people and we address them,”
he said.
More attention must be paid by
both unions and HR to other
demographics besides age when it
comes to ensuring representation of
vulnerable workers, said Farrar. He
pointed to research from the TUC
that showed BAME individuals were
twice as likely as white individuals to
be on agency contracts.
“The number of BAME women
on temporary and zero-hours
contracts in particular has soared,
and our membership is more than
90% BAME. I think that’s something
that can’t be ignored.” HR
hrmagazine.co.uk June 2019 HR 9
/hrmagazine.co.uk