| National organization(s) | TUC, STUC, ICTU |
|---|---|
| Regulatory authority | Department for Business and Trade Northern Ireland Department for the Economy |
| Primary legislation | Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 |
| Total union membership | 6.44 million (2019)[1] |
| Percentage of workforce unionised | 23.5%[1] |
| International Labour Organization | |
| The UK is a member of the ILO | |
| Convention ratification | |
| Freedom of Association | 27 June 1949 |
| Right to Organise | 30 June 1950 |
| Part of a series on |
| Socialism in the United Kingdom |
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Trade unions in the United Kingdom were first decriminalised under the recommendation of a Royal commission in 1867, which agreed that the establishment of the organisations was to the advantage of both employers and employees. Legalised in 1871, the Trade Union Movement sought to reform socio-economic conditions for working men in British industries, and the trade unions' search for this led to the creation of a Labour Representation Committee which effectively formed the basis for today's Labour Party, which still has extensive links with the Trade Union Movement in Britain. Margaret Thatcher's governments weakened the powers of the unions in the 1980s, in particular by making it more difficult to strike legally, and some within the British trades union movement criticised Tony Blair's Labour government for not reversing some of Thatcher's changes. Most British unions are members of the TUC, the Trades Union Congress (founded in 1867), or where appropriate, the Scottish Trades Union Congress or the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, which are the country's principal national trade union centres.
Membership declined steeply in the 1980s and 1990s, falling from 13 million in 1979 to around 7.3 million in 2000. In September 2012 union membership dropped below 6 million for the first time since the 1940s.[2] Union membership has since begun rising gradually again, reaching 6.44 million in 2019.
- ^ a b Bishop, Ivan (27 May 2020). "Trade Union Membership, UK 1995–2019: Statistical Bulletin" (PDF). Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
2012 membershipwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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