The Union Advantage With the recession putting pressure on Britain's workers, the TUC has recently published new material to help unions attract new recruits and demonstrate their value to employers.

In addition to a leaflet aimed at encouraging workers who've never thought about joining a union and a guide to show union reps how to research the employers they deal with, the TUC has also released a new report looking at the positive advantages that unions bring to the UK economy.

“The Union Advantage” says that union members get higher wages, better sickness and pension benefits, are much more likely to be able to take advantage of flexible working and are able to take more annual leave.

The report cites official statistics showing that workers in a union earn 12.5 per cent more an hour than employees in a non-unionised workplace, taking home average hourly earnings of £13.07 compared to £11.62.

The presence of a union is also likely to push training up the workplace agenda, encouraging members to take up courses to improve their skills which their company can then benefit from in the form of improved productivity. Over 230,000 workers were helped into taking up some form of learning by their union last year, according to the report.

It also says that unions and their safety reps help make workplaces safer and reduce the chances of employees becoming ill because of stress, bullying and other workplace hazards. And as well as winning a better deal for their members, unions can also save the employers a lot of time, hassle and money.

The report cites official statistics suggesting that because unions give employees a voice and solve problems, people are much less likely to leave their jobs in a unionised workplace, saving employers between £72 million and £143 million in recruitment costs.

By cutting down on accidents at work, unions could also be saving employers as much as £371 million a year and because they feel involved and listened to, unions help workforces become more productive, benefitting the UK economy to the tune of between £3.4 and £10.2 billion a year.

To download a copy of the report, go to: http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/unionadvantage.pdf