TUC unions introduced 49 new services for their members in the last year according to a Trade Union Trends survey released today (Tuesday).
The TUC's annual survey, Focus on union services, shows unions have introduced a wide range of benefits from helplines to financial and legal services including credit cards, conveyancing and life insurance. Unions also report plans to introduce a further 30 services in the next six months including a dancers' passport giving Equity members union support wherever they are in the world, and a bridging scheme for UCAC (the Welsh teaching union) members to brush up on their Welsh.
Key findings from the report, which also looks at unions efforts to recruit and retain existing members and at their own staffing structures, show:
- half the 42 unions responding to the survey introduced 49 new services in the survey period (July 1999 - June 2000). Twenty unions said they had plans to introduce further services over the next six months.
- twenty-two unions run 45 helplines - taking over 180,000 calls in the year - ranging from specific assistance on stress or bullying and harassment to general legal helplines. Six helplines have been introduced in the last year.
- most unions have targets for recruitment with several indicating targets for specific groups such as women and black and Asian workers. Several unions were able to report recruitment successes in these areas. Over the last year, forty-seven percent of recruits at the GMB and the civil service union, FDA, were women - female membership in the unions as a whole stands at 38% and 33% respectively. The TSSA transport union recruited over 5,000 new members over the year - 40% of whom were women. Forty-three percent of new recruits to NATFHE over the last year were part-time workers.
- twenty-four unions outlined specific recruitment campaigns and 17 pointed to measures being taken to tackle retention of members.
- while pay and conditions is the main reason members call on their union, this year's survey shows a marked increase in enquiries about membership services and benefits.
- the average weekly subscription rate is £2.16. However, special rates are common for part-timers, low paid, young workers and retired members.
- TUC affiliated unions employ around 6,600 staff including 350 full-time national negotiating officers and 1,264 full-time regional or local negotiators.
TUC General Secretary, John Monks said, "Unions are constantly offering additional services which make a real difference to members and their families. This survey shows that unions offer a first class service to their members - who are getting real value for money."
