Is good HR management killing off the unions?

On current evidence, it looks as if trade unions are destined for a long, slow dwindling of influence. So why, asks Stephen Overell, does he still keep his NUJ card in his back pocket?

  • Twilight of the brotherhood  From Personnel Today.

    Also

    Technology offers unions chance of 21st century growth spurt    IRS Employment Review looks at the findings of new research on US and UK union websites.

    TUC leader warns 'super-union' to avoid solo route and Debate over role of TUC puts workers' rights in the shade   Personnel Today reports.


    Unions to call for UK workplace rights to mirror European model   Personnel Today's Michael Millar reports.


    2.6 million reasons to be afraid in 2007   The UK's first super-union since the 1970s will come into being in January 2007, says Personnel Today.

    Unions fall back   Trade union membership fell by 2.3% in the year to April 2005, the largest drop since 1996, according to the annual report of the Certification Officer.

    Union membership decline continues   According to figures produced by the Department of Trade and Industry, only a quarter of employees were trade union members by autumn 2004, while in the private sector the figure is now some distance below one fifth.

    Unions' future lies with women   The decline of sectors where male union membership was high, coupled with the forecast that most jobs to be created in the next decade will tend to be done by women, means that female union membership will be central to trade unions' future, says a TUC report.

    Why join a union? Go figure   White-collar professionals are now more likely to join a union than those who may be most in need, but what can the unions do about it? From IRS Employment Review.