1. UNISON Skills for Strength Convention Richard Saundry Associate Professor in Human Resource and Leadership Studies Richard.Saundry@Plymouth.ac.uk http://www.linkedin.com/pub/richard-saundry/2a/428/421 Twitter - @RichardSaundry

2. The Scale of the Challenge Declining density  1980 – 55%; 1995 – 32%; 2013 – 26% A generational issue?  16-24 yrs – 8%; 25-34 yrs – 21% (source:LFS) It’s not just about membership –23% employees covered by collective bargaining –7% of all workplaces were unionised and had an on- site representative –32% of unionised workplaces had an on-site representative (source:WERS2011)

3. Why it matters - membership and income inequality

4. Collective bargaining and income inequality

5. We need to talk about union organising Prime reason for joining is support – individual and collective Recruitment closely related to union presence Organising has had a positive impact but key issues remain: –Strong organisation is vital for effective representation –Building representational capacity underpins sustainable increases in membership –Supporting and integrating new activists key to strengthening organisation