CWU membership shrank by 14,766 - down 8%

[PenfoldMouse]

https://www.lrd.org.uk/free-read/more-h ... hip-growth

What has happened to this union? 14k people havent retired this year so why are people leaving when we should be pulling together? Working conditions are s**t and the union are only ones going to try and fix that so the numbers should be going up!

[SpacePhoenix]

Probably all delivery staff after the union sold deliveries down the river

[Barnacle]

If you look at CWU membership levels over the years, there have been dips and troughs in membership but then it rises again, so I would say that it is unsurprising to see a dip after strike action and also an influx of new people who don’t stay long.

Also, I think the union is pretty poor at keeping members in the loop about what they are doing, this gives the impression they are doing nothing when in actual fact, discussions and heated disputes are going on all the time about a myriad of different issues. Reps need to pass on more info.

[chickenwittle]

They are lucky to have only lost that many after that shocking deal they dished up , if I was a newbie now I definitely wouldn’t be joining, seriously considered dropping out myself.

[Smoothbackground]

This time is far different. It bears no comparison with previous industrial action. The landscape is now entirely barren so far as the CWU is concerned. We have almost 20% of the workforce — and growing exponentially — on new contracts. Due to its treachery in 2023, the union is finding it impossible to entice those employees to become members. It is losing existing members too. Barnacle may or may not be right about new-entrant people sticking around for any length of time, but the simple fact is that RM will just recruit even more — if they leave, they aren’t going to be replaced with somebody on a legacy contract, are they? Let’s face it, RM properly snookered the rubbish CWU at its own game. At this rate, new entrants will make up 60% of the workforce within the next three years, by which time the CWU will no longer be the recognised staff-side representative as it won’t have the requisite mandate from employees.

[manboss]

Im actually shocked that the CWU has 172,354 members, i would have guessed half that.

[Barnacle]

Bit like a murderer confessing all to police at the end of a tv show, it’s a bit weird to read the inner thoughts of those planning a parasitic takeover. Ah well, after a few years they will become part of the group they seem to despise and will watch as a new raft of replicants are brought in to replace them. They’ll pay their subs and realise that you can’t fight anything from the outside on your own.

Anyway, CWU membership is following a universal trend of reduced interest in trade unions and that is really to do with a degrading of workers rights at government level. We’ve just had 14 years of a gov that has no time for trade unions. I doubt membership levels will rebound back to their peak but they’re hardly falling off a cliff.

[funkflex55]

Im actually shocked that the CWU has 172,354 members, i would have guessed half that.

I think that's across all the companies they represent. Google says they had 302k in 21/22. At that rate of decline they won't be around much longer.

[Mr Rush]

Im actually shocked that the CWU has 172,354 members, i would have guessed half that.

That's not just within RMG. BT staff are probably the next largest share of membership. Within RMG there were 120k members out of 163k total staff in 2010. It likely is half that by now.

Also, I think the union is pretty poor at keeping members in the loop about what they are doing

I used to get LTBs e-mailed to me which was the most useful thing they could send me since we had a DOM that liked to make s**t up. They stopped sending those in 2015 and instead mostly send fluff about discount entry to heritage sites, and they wonder why I come here so often.

[Smoothbackground]

Anyway, CWU membership is following a universal trend of reduced interest in trade unions …

If you had bothered to read the link before doing battle you would have seen that the headline was “More than half of TUC-affiliated unions see membership growth”.

More than half of the TUC’s 48 member unions arrive at this month’s TUC Congress in Brighton having grown their memberships significantly since last year.

Hardly the “universal trend of reduced interest” that you would contend for, is it?

Stop clinging to The Titanic!

[Thegrinch]

We have had 3 quit this week and I'm thinking of quiting .
We've had no office rep for a while but 1 lad has put his name forward. He's been there for 15 plus years, always been with us on the picket line and is a decent chap.
However a girl has also put herself forward, she crossed every single picket line and clearly has no loyalty to the union or its members. The lad asked her to be his number 2 in the office but she said No, she wants to be number 1 Top Dog....the aera rep is backing her.
Not sure I can pay my subs for a office rep that obviously is doing it for her own self interests and not for the benefit of the staff...
3 down this week and think I'll br the 4th to go

[SpacePhoenix]

At this rate, new entrants will make up 60% of the workforce within the next three years,

It's going to hit a point eventually where there'll be a small enough % of staff on "legacy" contracts that when RM factor in employment tribunal costs, it'll be cheap enough to force any staff who remain on "legacy" contracts over to the new contracts

[Barnacle]

We have had 3 quit this week and I'm thinking of quiting .
We've had no office rep for a while but 1 lad has put his name forward. He's been there for 15 plus years, always been with us on the picket line and is a decent chap.
However a girl has also put herself forward, she crossed every single picket line and clearly has no loyalty to the union or its members. The lad asked her to be his number 2 in the office but she said No, she wants to be number 1 Top Dog....the aera rep is backing her.
Not sure I can pay my subs for a office rep that obviously is doing it for her own self interests and not for the benefit of the staff...
3 down this week and think I'll br the 4th to go

Surely there will be a contest rather than a coronation?

[Barnacle]

Im actually shocked that the CWU has 172,354 members, i would have guessed half that.

That's not just within RMG. BT staff are probably the next largest share of membership. Within RMG there were 120k members out of 163k total staff in 2010. It likely is half that by now.

Also, I think the union is pretty poor at keeping members in the loop about what they are doing

I used to get LTBs e-mailed to me which was the most useful thing they could send me since we had a DOM that liked to make s**t up. They stopped sending those in 2015 and instead mostly send fluff about discount entry to heritage sites, and they wonder why I come here so often.

The LTBs have started up again in our office. No idea why they would have stopped being so free with info.

[Barnacle]

Anyway, CWU membership is following a universal trend of reduced interest in trade unions …

If you had bothered to read the link before doing battle you would have seen that the headline was “More than half of TUC-affiliated unions see membership growth”.

More than half of the TUC’s 48 member unions arrive at this month’s TUC Congress in Brighton having grown their memberships significantly since last year.

Hardly the “universal trend of reduced interest” that you would contend for, is it?

Stop clinging to The Titanic!

I apologise for confusing you by flipping from ‘universal’ meaning the entire world, where union membership is down, to referring to the national situation of the CWU, within the same paragraph.