Unions and equality: 50 years on from the fight for fair pay at Dagenham
| Date | 11 February 2019 |
| Published date | 11 February 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-09-2018-0239 |
| Pages | 344-356 |
| Author | Gill Kirton |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
Unions and equality: 50 years
on from the fight for fair pay
at Dagenham
Gill Kirton
School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London,
London, UK
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to review historical and contemporary union driven advances in
gender and race equality within the movement and the workplace in order to show how far unions have come
in the last 50 years, but also to identify continuing equality deficits.
Design/methodology/approach –As well as reviewing extant literature in order to provide historical
background, the paper draws upon original analysis of the series of biennial TUC Equality Audits, the
latest SERTUC equality survey and interviews with national union officers responsible for equality in
large-, medium- and small-sized unions.
Findings –Over the last 50 years, unions have made considerable progress in representing women both in
leadership and democratic structures as well as in the workplace bargaining and consultative arena.
However, BAME members remain underrepresented in both domains. A hostile socio-economic/political
context threatens to hinder further progress.
Research limitations/implications –It is quite clear that the authors cannot assessunions’current record
on equality by reference only to outcomes and benefits of big set-piece organisation, industry or sector
negotiations. Future research could usefully explore in more depth unions’qualitative contribution to
workplace equality practices in context of challenges in the internal and external environments.
Practical implications –Unions need to step up commitment to integrating equality into the bargaining
agenda. They also need to continue investing in campaigning activities and identify ways of making
successful outcomes more visible within the union, to members and to non-unionised workers. Workplace
unions need to develop strategies to confront the fact that strong equality policies do not necessarily translate
into good workplace practices.
Originality/value –The paper provides a long-term evaluation of union progress on equality within the
movement itself and the workplace.
Keywords Gender, Trade unions, Equality, Collective bargaining
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In her preface to Sarah Boston’s (2015) updated 1980 classic Women Workers and the Trade
Unions, Trades Union Congress (TUC) General Secretary Frances O’Grady, the first woman
in that position in almost 150 years of TUC existence, identifies inequality as “the central
challenge of our time”.O’Grady goes on to state, “we [the unions] need to look, sound and
feel more like today’s workforce”. When trade unionism reached its peak at the end of the
1970s, women comprised a (substantial) minority 29 per cent of membership (Cunnison and
Stageman, 1995). Today, following decades of membership decline concentrated in male
dominated industries and occupations, that figure is a (slim) majority 55 per cent (BEIS,
2018). The Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) share of membership stands at only
nine per cent (BEIS, 2018) but that reflects their much lower share of the workforce. Thus,
today, in terms of gender and ethnic composition of membership, the unions do look like the
workforce, but whether or not they “sound and feel”like the workforce is still contested. It is
important to recognise that while the high female share of membership creates a strong
“business case”for unions to prioritise women’s equality, the opposite holds for BAME
members. However, as O’Grady suggests both women’s and BAME members’claims for
equality and inclusion within unions and the workplace should and do go beyond mere
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 41 No. 2, 2019
pp. 344-356
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-09-2018-0239
Received 10 September 2018
Revised 26 October 2018
Accepted 5 November 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
344
ER
41,2
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