[MTVN]

I'm not sure Unions will ever become completely obsolete but they do need to modernise. At the moment union leaders often look like sad old men of a bygone age trying to cling to the days when they could bring the country to a grinding halt with strike action and wanting to relive the 70s. The country has moved on though, in most areas old fashioned industrial workplaces are a thing of the past and the Unions were far too slow to realise the shift to a service based economy

[JoshBB]

Originally Posted by MTVN

I'm not sure Unions will ever become completely obsolete but they do need to modernise. At the moment union leaders often look like sad old men of a bygone age trying to cling to the days when they could bring the country to a grinding halt with strike action and wanting to relive the 70s. The country has moved on though, in most areas old fashioned industrial workplaces are a thing of the past and the Unions were far too slow to realise the shift to a service based economy

You mean a shift to an economy run purely for corporate business and one that cares very little for those at the bottom? We need trade unions to give back voice to the workers. Look at germany - they have powerful trade unions and are doing great.

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by MTVN

I'm not sure Unions will ever become completely obsolete but they do need to modernise. At the moment union leaders often look like sad old men of a bygone age trying to cling to the days when they could bring the country to a grinding halt with strike action and wanting to relive the 70s. The country has moved on though, in most areas old fashioned industrial workplaces are a thing of the past and the Unions were far too slow to realise the shift to a service based economy

How on earth could that be true? It's such a strange concept that anyone would prefer that they had less rights and no secure contract of employment.
It is the efforts of the media that ensures the perception of the unionised member is some militant from the 70s... that would mean that all that advocate unionisation are just about ready to retire now, and that's just not true is it?
All those unite members marching are not OAPs are they, they're young people, mums and dads, people with homes cars and mortgages.
Whether in the public or private sector everyone deserves to work to live not live to work.
I don't want a hand to mouth existence for the next generation who can't build any foundations for the future as there's no secure work to be able to save or borrow against. Why would anyone want to bring the country to a stop? they don't, the country has not moved on it's moved backwards.

It's just been perpetuated that it's less acceptable to ask for or expect rights and or fairness in the workplace now, it isn't and it should never be.
It impacts on the social fabric of this supposed 'civil society' that we have the right to work, to a family and a secure home. I wouldn't have thought that was unacceptable.

[MTVN]

Originally Posted by JoshBB

You mean a shift to an economy run purely for corporate business and one that cares very little for those at the bottom? We need trade unions to give back voice to the workers. Look at germany - they have powerful trade unions and are doing great.

I wouldn't say 'great': http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32733603

Germany seems to be entering a turning point with its unions like we had in the 70s/80s. The reason they've prospered for much of the last few decades is because they were less hostile and more conciliatory than the unions often were in this country. It was more about cooperation than conflict. That is how it should be of course but when unions become too powerful it threatens that (just as when employers are too powerful of course)

Originally Posted by Kizzy

How on earth could that be true? It's such a strange concept that anyone would prefer that they had less rights and no secure contract of employment.
It is the efforts of the media that ensures the perception of the unionised member is some militant from the 70s... that would mean that all that advocate unionisation are just about ready to retire now, and that's just not true is it?
All those unite members marching are not OAPs are they, they're young people, mums and dads, people with homes cars and mortgages.
Whether in the public or private sector everyone deserves to work to live not live to work.
I don't want a hand to mouth existence for the next generation who can't build any foundations for the future as there's no secure work to be able to save or borrow against. Why would anyone want to bring the country to a stop? they don't, the country has not moved on it's moved backwards.

It's just been perpetuated that it's less acceptable to ask for or expect rights and or fairness in the workplace now, it isn't and it should never be.
It impacts on the social fabric of this supposed 'civil society' that we have the right to work, to a family and a secure home. I wouldn't have thought that was unacceptable.

No but clearly trade union membership is in perennial decline and has been for decades. Evidently not that many people see union membership as fundamental to their worker status anymore. The economy today is very different to the one that gave birth to Unions and witnessed their heyday, someone like Scargill is a throwback to a different age.