A union, or trade union if preferred, is a workforce collective that functions as a formal negotiating unit between member employees and their employer. Local and leadership representatives are democratically elected by members and legal services are sourced either internally or externally.

Given their media representation, it is easy to assume that unions are all about the money but, unions are also a response to the kind of management thinking that would happily dangle an employee over erupting lava if there was the prospect of money to be made from it.

In return for which the employee would receive subsistence wages and the everlasting contempt of their employer.

Employees might feel that, it would be quite nice if they received better conditions and pay in exchange for putting their lives on the line for bloated autocrats.

Funded by membership fees a union, as a single legal entity, will bargain with the employer for employee wellbeing and workplace improvements including pay, equality, operational conditions and status.

The union, “brand”, diminished over the years as they became increasingly politicised. Alleged associations with organised crime and, militancy for the sake of militancy served to denigrate their image and make everybody, including the unions, forget what unions were for.

Improving the working lives of their members.

Over the years, union memberships have dipped and their teeth have been pulled for the most part. This obviously suits employers right down to the ground.

It’s also unlikely that union membership fees constitute part of the calculations performed to ascertain required minimum wage levels

Your employer may aver that, “We don’t formally recognise unions.” Which, as a statement of intent, is meaningless. A union’s purpose is not to be recognised, but to act on behalf of members who, individually, would not have the money or the support to deal with workplace issues.

It is worth noting that, in the United Kingdom certainly, government departments are unionised. Which implies that the government, there to protect the rights of the nation’s tax paying workers, needs to be unionised in order to protect the rights of its workers.

Ironic.