The latest annual survey on union recognition agreements, published by the Trades Union Congress in April 2006, highlights a sharp fall in recognition deals reached with employers, even though the number of union campaigns for recognition has increased.
The results of the latest ‘Focus on recognition’ survey, published annually by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Labour Research Department (LRD), shows a significant fall in the number of recognition agreements signed between trade unions and employers. Thirty-five trade unions took part in the survey, which covers the year from November 2004 to October 2005, representing 81% of the TUC’s total affiliated membership. The research recorded 61 new deals covering 12,000 employees, down from 179 deals covering over 20,000 workers in the previous year. This was despite a large increase in the number of trade union recognition campaigns.
Mounting campaigns
According to the survey, the number of campaigns for recognition run by trade unions rose to 46 campaigns from 16 campaigns in the previous year. At the same time, the number of unions running campaigns increased from seven to 13 unions. A number of these campaigns have been successfully translated into recognition deals outside of the survey period, details of which will be included in next year’s survey, including a recent deal between the general union GMB and G4S Security Services, covering 15,000 employees. However, the TUC accepts that campaigns will be more difficult to translate into agreements, as they now have to be directed at smaller and more recalcitrant employers. It predicts a pattern of peaks and troughs in the future, where high campaign activity one year will lead to higher numbers of deals signed the next year, but with deals dropping off again in the following year.
Fewer new deals
The right to trade union recognition was introduced by the Employment Relations Act 1999 and came into force in 2000 (UK0007183F). Since then, over 1,100 recognition deals have been signed, covering over 310,000 employees. The number of agreements peaked in the years immediately following the legislation (see Table), probably on the back of campaigns in workplaces where unions already had a significant membership presence. Most of these were ‘voluntary’ agreements, with cases of recognition resulting from awards by the Central Arbitration Committee amounting to only 20 recognition agreements in 2000–2001 and 24 in 2001–2002.
Trends in recognition deals, 1995–2005
Trends in recognition deals from 1995 to 2005, with a peak in 2001 | Period | Number of new deals |
| July–December 1995 | 54 |
| January–June 1996 | 54 |
| July–December 1996 | 56 |
| January–June 1997 | 26 |
| July 1997–February 1998 | 55 |
| March–November 1998 | 34 |
| December 1998–October 1999 | 75 |
| November 1999–October 2000 | 159 |
| November 2000–October 2001 | 470 |
| November 2001–October 2002 | 306 |
| November 2002–October 2003 | 166 |
| November 2003–October 2004 | 179 |
| November 2004–October 2005 | 61 |
Source: TUC/LRD, 2006
Over 90% of the latest agreements covered collective bargaining over pay, working time and holidays, and there is evidence of an extension of collective bargaining to less traditional sectors in the agreements concluded in recent years. Two-thirds of the deals signed between 2004 and 2005 allowed for negotiating and consulting over employee training and learning: the number of agreements providing for training and learning representatives (UK0305102F) almost doubled compared with the previous survey. There was also an increase in deals that covered collective representation on grievance and disciplinary issues (rising to 84% from 73% in the previous year).
However, the TUC’s annual recognition surveys clearly suggest that it has become increasingly difficult for unions to secure recognition from employers (UK0303101N). Commenting on the latest figures, TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber, said: ‘It was always expected that following an initial surge in deals, unblocked by the new legal right to recognition, unions were going to face a tough task in securing new agreements. The dramatic increase in campaigns for recognition, many in areas where few employees have ever had the benefit of union representation, shows that unions are taking on this challenge. But unions are facing an increasingly uphill battle. Employers are becoming more and more resistant, though welcome new protection against the worst kind of union busting will now limit this’. Mr Barber was referring to measures introduced by the Employment Relations Act 2004, which provides workers with statutory protection against being offered inducements by their employer not to be a member of a trade union, and protection against dismissal or detriment for availing of the services of their trade union (UK0411101N).
James Arrowsmith, Industrial Relations Research Unit, University of Warwick