Organised Labour and State Employment

The extent of the collective organisation of workers is both a crucial distinguishing feature of employment in the public sector and a focus for modernising critiques. In the UK and most of the industrialised world, the contrast between the fortunes of unions in the public and private sector can be illustrated by the fact that not only does union density in the public sector generally dwarf that of the private sector, but the actual numbers of union members in the public sector tends to be greater than that in the private sector (see Bryson and Forth, 2010). This is despite typically around a quarter of the aggregate workforce being employed by the state (Fredman and Morris, 1989; Matthews, 2010). It should be stressed that the resilience is relative, as both, membership levels and density are arguably on a negative trajectory; the union movement in the public sector has faced considerable challenges in the past three decades, which it has not managed to counter with unqualified success. These challenges are complex and stem from both tendencies in the wider milieu of work organisation and more specifically from the restructuring of state apparatus that has been ongoing since 1979. It is argued that, unless the unions can put in place sophisticated and coordinated strategies of organisation and campaigning, unions’ future prospects are more bleak than many decision makers in the movement have fully acknowledged (see Bryson and Forth, 2010).