Organising in a union is the only way for workers to improve working conditions and pay!

According to recent figures of the Research Council of Norway, the measured effects of trade union membership on wages are:

• at a workplace where 0-25% of employees are union members, the wages are 6% higher for women and 8% higher for men as compared to workplaces without union members

• where 25-50% of employees are in a union, wages are 14% higher for women and 15% higher for men than in workplaces where there is no union

• the situation is even better where 50-100% of employees are part of a union, because wages are 23% higher for women and 18% higher for men

In Norway, around 80% of all public sector workers and 40% of all privately employed people are union members. These densities are among the highest in Europe. In the Norwegian system, workers have the right to demand a collective agreement applicable to all employees if at least 10% of the staff is organised in the same union. While there is no significant difference if one single worker joins a union, a group of employees in a workplace can make a significant difference for their pay if they join a union together.

Norway is only one example, but trade unions make a difference everywhere. This is exactly what industriAll Europe’s ‘Together at Work’ campaign shows: workers benefit by being part of a union which negotiates better wages and working conditions though collective bargaining. These benefits of collective bargaining for workers are well-documented across Europe.

Throughout the upcoming months of the campaign, industriAll Europe will also show the benefits of collective bargaining for the economy and employers, and for society, as highlighted in the case of Germany. We also give workers the floor to speak about the benefits of collective bargaining through short testimonial videos, like the one of Maximo from Spain and of Federico from Belgium.

“The only way in which workers can improve their working conditions and pay is by organising in a union, by sticking together and by fighting together as part of their union” said Luc Triangle, the General Secretary of industriAll Europe. “Through our campaign we demonstrate the benefits of trade union membership and of collective bargaining for workers, the economy and employers, and society as a whole.”

About the campaign
The objective of industriAll Europe’s collective bargaining campaign is to demonstrate the positive impact of collective bargaining, underpinned by strong unions, in delivering a better life for workers. It consists of 7 targeted campaigns, each lasting one month. The current ‘Workers Campaign’ runs from 14th October – 15th November.

Visit www.togetheratwork.eu for more information.
See the campaign coverage here. Watch the campaign video.
Contact Patricia Velicu for more information or further comment.