Decline of Unions

Unions are no longer the threat to our economy or lives as in the past. Membership has fallen from 13.2m in 1979 to 6.2m now and dropped last year by 4.4%. That is a whopping drop of 53.03%-more than half! I wonder how much the Leaders pay have increased since then with dropping membership! And 40% of members are over 50 so clearly Unions do not appeal to young people 63.55% of Union members are in the public sector perhaps a relic from the past as the private sector has embraced new technologies and created jobs so that now the largest number of people are in jobs and unemployment very low Whatever the Leaders may say or Corbyn clearly the workforce are not clamouring to the Union cause and why is that? Simple, they have served their purpose and in some respects did a good job overall when they did not use their power for political purposes: Winter of Discontent, 3 day working week and Coal Miners strike come to mind. The Unions still get the media coverage similar to the old days but they are a spent force and with the continual declining membership this should dwindle into a side show Perhaps historians will report that their influence declined as more and more of the work force became middle class with the life style which follows and the Unions misuse of political power and workers [we are all workers now] didn’t want to pay for that Corby can shout from the roof tops for young people to join Unions but they won’t-it is not the same as bribing them to vote for Labour by scrapping University fees as the perception is that Unions are antiquated and not fit for purpose in the modern economy And if the decline continues at the same rate as last year then by 2022 membership will dip below 5m! A spent force except for possibly public sector workers