Apologies for the lack of blog posts

Dear Comrades,

You will see that there has been a massively long gap between my last post and this. As I have bemoaned extensively over the last couple of years this is because the Blogger platform is periodically blocked by a third party. It is impossible to access the platform and there is no support available from the people behind this platform to help overcome the problem.

Anyway, as many of you will know, I write at a time of significant industrial unrest across the UK, and with more strikes to come during 2023.

This morning whilst attending a meeting of organisers across Europe (who had been brought together by Ben Egan (graduate of the MA ILTUS at Ruskin College) who is now Organising Director of UNI Europa - the European federal arm of UNI Global) I mentioned that one of the positive effects of this increase in strike action is a significant increase in trade union membership, and this on the back of an increase during the period of the Coronavirus pandemic:

https://www.itv.com/news/2022-06-24/unions-see-surge-in-membership-interest-as-workers-fight-back-against-pay-cuts

A key point I was making is that this increase clearly reflects a conscious appreciation for the value of trade unions in encouraging collective action to protect workers' interests, and based on the data gathered thus far on this recruitment surge, there is a noticeable trend across groups younger workers. 

This is a very welcome change in the UK where the average age of trade union members has been increasing exponentially since the 1980s. Although the union that I work for, Equity bucks this trend with an average membership age of 28, it is nevertheless important that the union maintains a strong focus on ensuring that this group of members, and others, gain a clear, explicit sense of what it means to be in a union, and what it means to express solidarity, by taking an active role in supporting the large body of strike action across the UK - as pictured by with Equity staff and activists supporting a CWU picket.

What remains to be seen however, is how and whether the UK labour movement can retain the membership gains of the past two years. My personal perspective is that the labour movement will continue to demonstrate to these new cohorts of members that that their safety and security is better guaranteed within a union than without, and notably as the economy will remain in recession for at least the next 18 months.

I hope to post another piece before Christmas, and so long as Blogger folk aren't locked out of their accounts once again.

In solidarity

Ian