The problems of trade unionism are not confined to Britain, but stem in part from an international employers offensive. However, they are especially acute in Britain. There are a number of reasons for this. First, the defeats of core sectors suffered in Britain do not have their equal in other European countries. Secondly, Britain's anti-union laws have no parallel in Western Europc. Third, the longterm weakness of sections of the British economy, particularly manufacturing, has reduced the scope for concessions from employers. Fourth, in recognition of this weakness, the strategy of the government over the last 15 years has been to attract foreign investment through the promise of low wages and weak trade unions. As well as encouraging government moves to attack unions, this has, in turn, led to the growth of non-union workplaces and anti-union employers. Fifth, as compared with continental Europe, in Britain there have been structural reasons for the ability of the government to attack trades unions which have been compounded by the weakness of the union leaders response.
The European trade unions are often divided, crudely, into two main groups. On the one hand there are the Scandinavian countries and Germany, which are typified by high union membership and unified trade union federations, closcly integrated with social democratic parties. In these countries there has tended to be a substantial amount of legal protection for trade unions, and an institutional structure which promotes joint decision making 'co-determination' between employers and unions, with the state playing a mediating role. These structures have to some extent protected the position of unions, though often at the cost of making concessions over pay or conditions. The other main group of unions are the southern European countries, notably France, Spain, Greece and Italy. Here membership levels tend to be lower and union federations are divided (often between communist, Catholic and socialist among others). Union membership in these countries is much more of a political act than in Northern Europe or Britain. The relatively high level of politicisation of the Southern European unions has enabled them to undertake levels of activity which have not been seen in Britain: for example the strikes in Italy in autumn 1994 and in France of
December 1995, both over attacks on pensions and the welfare state. In Britain the trade union movement lacks the political edge of the Southern European countries (largely because of the lack of a strong Communist tradition). However, it also lacks the institutional support of Scandinavia or Germany, despite relatively high membership levels. This is shown by the following table which draws on OECD ligures.
Table 2: Bargaining coverage and union representation in 1990. Union membership Bargaining Coverage Extension Sweden no 81% 31% Germany yes 19% 71% Netherlands yes 87c France yes 68% 9% Spain yes 47% 37% Great Britain 18% 15% USA ПО 23% Japan Notes: 'Extension' refers to whether terms and conditions set down in collective bargainıng agreements are extended to other companies either voluntarily or by law. Union membership figures are for the "market sector' of the economy.
Source: R. Hyman and A Ferner New Frontiers in European Industrial Relations, Blackwell 1994.
It can be seen that while the British level of union membership is high, the influence of union agreements on the rest of the economy is extremely lon compared to the rest of Europe (although it is higher than in the USA or Japan). Far fewer workers in Britain are actually affected by collective agreements with all that that entails. This is a stark reflection of the level of the offensive against unions in Britain in recent years.
While unions elsewhere in Europe have not faced the massive allacks and damage in the last decade as experienced by the unions in Britain, the situation is changing. Union membership is falling in many countries; for example in France the unions have lost 50% of their membership in the last twenty years. In some cases where there have been victories by unions, these have been reversed a year or so later, as happened with the restructuring plans at Air France and, most notably, with the battles over pension reform in Italy. The summer 1995 pension legislation in Italy, approved by the leaderships of the three main
union confederations (CGIL, CISL and UIL), differed little from the Berlusconi proposals which had been defeated nine months before.
One of the factors which has maintained union influence in Southern Europe, and aided the extension of collective agreements across the economy, is the relatively high level of state involvement and ownership in the economy. This is now threatened by massive privatisation programmes in France and Italy. Most significantly, the corporatist model of co-determination and union/management partnership in Germany is increasingly under threat from both employer hostility and government austenty measures.
In Britain the assault on trade unions has been more thoroughgoing than elsewhere in Europe so far, but it foreshadows the struggles that are to come in other countries.