Young workers: what unions can do for you

Young workers month is held in November every year. And we’ve been thinking about what young workers want from their trade union membership, and how we can tackle some of the issues they face in the workplace.

To give you some background, just 8% of Accord members are aged between 16–24, and less than 2% of our workplace reps fall under this category. Within our members’ main employer (Lloyds Banking Group), 8.7% of colleagues are aged between 16–24. But only 25% are members of Accord - which means 75% haven’t joined us (and may not be a member of any union).

So why are so few younger workers joining unions?
It would be easy for us to point fingers at young workers as the media does so often. Calling them everything from materialistic, selfish and uninterested in issues of collective concerns. These are of a simplistic view and simply not true.

The real answer is much more a criticism of the union movement itself — we’ve got to look at the bigger picture. The world of work has changed so much over the last 20–30 years, but unions haven’t always kept up with and adapted to modern demands (not all unions are the same — some have moved quicker than others).

Research published by Unions21 in January 2018 gives us some insight into the expectations and aspirations of younger workers. It also helps us consider what we need to do to become more relevant for younger workers. There are two main areas that I’d like to focus on...

Firstly, the research suggests that young workers are looking for something different from work than previous generations. Partly because finding and securing a well paid job can be more challenging, and partly because pay is important in securing the type of lifestyle that young workers seek.

Unions offer protection (some view it as ‘job insurance’) but this isn’t necessarily at the forefront of younger workers minds in the same way as career development is. Yet, progression requires a level of job protection, and unions aren’t focusing on this career development aspect. A bit of a catch-22.

Secondly, we should be careful not to confuse materialism and selfishness with individualism. Even though they may be less committed to collective action, younger generations still recognise that there’s a benefit of cooperating in the pursuit of a common goal. This is again an area of crossover.

So what can Accord do?
We’re working on a number of things that might help us. Some are tweaks to what we do, and some will require more fundamental shifts in our approach to membership.

We’re looking at what our membership offer should look like for young workers. We currently offer a lower subscription rate for under 21’s (reduced from £9.90 to £4.90 per month for full-timers). But we’re thinking of other ways to make union membership more ‘attractive’. We’ll share further details as plans progress.

We’re conscious that although digital and online communications are great, they’re no replacement for face-to-face contact. So we’ve been looking at revitalising the structure of the union and how we can increase engagement with members.

We’ve also recently published news on the creation of a new Accord Equality Group. We’re encouraging members to get involved to assist us with developing our overall strategy to issues like getting more young people into the union.

I’ll be contacting all our young members soon to discuss an opportunity to attend an event in 2019. But in the meantime, we’d like to get more young workers involved in Accord. Here’s some suggestions:

• Share your story — have you benefited from using Accord before? Whether it’s over the phone advice, representation at a meeting or even using one of the membership benefits. Let us know, we’d love to hear your story.
• Organise an event — why not hold a recruitment event in your workplace? It doesn’t have to be anything big. We can send you all the literature and goodies you need.
• Spread the word — let your younger colleagues know why you joined. Talk to them about the benefits of being a member and let them know we offer a lower subscription rate for members under 21. You never know — it might encourage them to sign up.
• Share ideas — let us know the issues that matter to you most at work. And tell us what you think would encourage more young workers to join a union.

November is Younger Workers Month, you can follow the campaign and join in on social media using the hashtag #YWM18.

You can contact us at equality@accordhq.org