Thinking globally about trade union density

I realise I can be a bit downbeat about the state of our trade union movement sometimes, so will post this evening some comparative international information which demonstrates that, whilst things are bad, they could be worse. Remember this is a niche blog about trade unionism, so if membership density data doesn’t do it for you look away now.

Here is a table of data from the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) showing trends in trade union density this century;

Unit		Percentage
Time		1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
Country
Australia		25.4	25.7	24.5	23.2	23.0	22.3	22.3	20.2	18.5	18.6	19.3	18.4	18.5	18.2	17.0	15.5
Austria		38.2	37.4	36.6	35.7	34.7	34.9	33.9	31.6	30.5	29.7	29.4	29.0	28.4	28.0	27.8	..
Belgium		54.3	56.2	56.3	55.6	54.1	54.0	53.7	54.8	54.7	54.4	54.9	53.8	55.1	55.0	55.1	..
Canada		28.0	28.2	28.4	28.3	28.2	27.8	27.7	27.4	27.3	27.0	27.3	27.2	26.9	27.2	27.1	26.4
Chile		12.7	12.6	12.5	12.8	13.7	13.7	13.3	13.0	13.1	14.1	15.0	15.0	14.9	15.3	15.0	15.5
Czech Republic		30.0	27.2	23.6	22.2	22.3	21.0	19.7	18.7	17.9	17.4	17.2	16.6	15.8	14.3	12.7	..
Denmark		74.0	73.9	73.3	71.6	71.6	70.4	70.7	68.4	67.9	66.3	67.7	67.0	66.4	67.2	66.8	..
Estonia		16.3	14.5	14.0	13.5	11.7	11.0	9.7	8.4	7.6	6.2	7.6	8.2	7.0	6.1	5.7	..
Finland		76.3	75.0	74.5	73.5	72.9	71.5	70.6	70.4	70.5	69.8	69.2	68.6	69.6	69.8	69.0	..
France		8.1	8.0	7.9	8.1	7.9	7.7	7.7	7.6	7.5	7.6	7.7	7.7	7.7	7.7	7.7	..
Germany		25.3	24.6	23.7	23.5	23.0	22.2	21.7	20.7	19.9	19.1	18.9	18.6	18.5	18.3	18.1	..
Greece		26.8	26.5	24.9	24.8	24.6	24.0	24.1	24.1	24.0	23.5	22.6	22.1	22.7	22.8	21.5	..
Hungary		24.5	22.0	20.0	19.0	17.9	17.9	17.5	16.1	15.1	14.6	13.9	12.9	11.8	10.7	10.5	..
Iceland		87.4	89.4	88.1	92.5	86.5	84.0	84.0	85.1	84.8	84.6	85.1	85.4	85.2	85.2	85.5	86.4
Ireland		38.7	38.0	37.8	36.1	37.4	35.5	34.0	32.4	31.5	31.9	33.1	32.7	32.6	31.2	29.6	27.4
Israel		41.3	37.9	36.9	36.5	35.8	34.4	33.1	32.0	30.5	28.6	27.3	25.7	24.2	22.8	..	..
Italy		35.4	34.8	34.2	33.8	33.7	34.1	33.8	33.6	34.0	33.9	35.2	36.0	36.3	36.9	37.3	..
Japan		22.2	21.5	20.9	20.3	19.7	19.3	18.8	18.3	18.3	18.2	18.5	18.4	19.0	18.0	17.8	17.6
Korea		11.7	11.4	11.5	10.8	10.8	10.3	9.9	10.0	10.6	10.3	10.0	9.7	9.9	10.1	..	..
Luxembourg		43.3	42.5	41.8	42.1	42.8	42.3	41.4	40.1	38.7	36.5	35.9	35.1	33.9	32.8	..	..
Mexico		15.8	15.6	15.9	15.9	16.9	17.5	16.9	16.3	16.8	15.7	15.3	14.4	14.5	13.6	13.6	13.5
Netherlands		24.7	22.9	21.2	21.0	20.5	20.8	20.6	20.0	19.3	18.8	19.1	18.6	18.4	17.9	17.8	..
New Zealand		21.7	22.4	22.3	22.3	21.2	20.8	20.9	21.3	21.4	20.8	21.6	21.0	21.1	20.9	19.8	18.7
Norway		54.8	54.4	53.9	54.5	55.1	55.0	54.9	54.2	53.0	52.6	53.6	53.7	53.5	53.3	52.1	..
Poland		20.5	17.5	15.5	14.1	18.8	19.0	18.1	16.3	15.6	15.1	14.6	14.6	13.6	12.7	..	..
Portugal		22.4	21.6	22.4	20.7	21.3	21.7	21.6	21.2	21.2	20.9	20.6	19.8	18.8	18.9	..	..
Slovak Republic		34.2	32.3	30.5	27.4	26.1	23.6	22.8	20.6	18.8	17.2	16.0	15.2	14.1	13.6	13.3	..
Slovenia		40.4	41.6	40.8	44.7	43.7	40.1	37.1	31.4	29.0	26.6	26.3	25.0	23.1	22.0	21.2	..
Spain		16.8	16.6	16.4	16.1	15.9	15.4	14.6	14.3	15.5	17.2	17.6	17.3	16.9	17.1	16.9	..
Sweden		80.6	79.1	78.0	78.0	78.0	78.1	76.5	75.1	70.8	68.3	68.4	68.2	67.5	67.5	67.7	67.3
Switzerland		20.9	20.2	19.7	19.9	19.9	19.5	19.3	18.9	18.5	17.5	17.3	17.1	16.7	16.2	16.2	15.7
Turkey		29.3	28.2	29.3	25.1	22.3	20.0	16.8	14.3	12.3	10.7	10.2	8.9	7.8	7.0	6.3	..
United Kingdom		30.1	30.2	29.6	29.3	29.6	29.0	28.6	28.2	28.1	27.3	27.3	26.6	25.8	26.0	25.8	25.1
United States		13.4	12.8	12.9	12.6	12.4	12.0	12.0	11.5	11.6	11.9	11.8	11.4	11.3	10.8	10.8	10.7
OECD countries		21.0	20.4	20.0	19.7	19.6	19.2	18.9	18.3	18.1	18.0	18.1	17.7	17.6	17.2	17.0	16.7

Across the OECD union density has fallen from a point at the turn of the century where just over one in five workers were trade unionists to a point now where it is around one in six. This masks some quite significant differences between nation states. In some West European countries (Spain, Italy and Belgium for example) density has remained steady or even inched up. At the other extreme in some East European countries (the Hungary and the Czech and Slovak republics for example) density has fallen to less than half what it was at the turn of the century (there appears to have been an even more catastrophic decline in Turkey).

The “meaning” of trade union density figures for trade union power and influence clearly varies between different national settings. The French trade unions have very low membership density but are not proportionately less influential than their counterparts in many other countries.

The decline in trade union density in the United Kingdom has been slightly less severe than the OECD average and remain comfortably in the second quartile of national density figures, so our dilemma is no greater than that faced by trade unionists in most advanced economies.

If there is anything to be learned from this data it is perhaps that we should spend a bit more time and effort finding out what it is that trade unionists have been doing in (for example) Belgium or Italy to sustain their membership density and resist the decline which is being experienced here, and in many other countries.