Congress, collective
bargaining is about more than obtaining a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s
work, protecting terms and conditions and safeguarding our members’ health and
safety.
It is about equality.
It is about building and sustaining workplace democracy. It is about the
development of a society which is fairer, more equal and democratic - and where
economic power is more evenly distributed.
The sorry truth is
that for far too long now, successive governments have refused to acknowledge
any kind of positive role for collective bargaining. It has been considered an
unwelcome rigidity which prevents the otherwise flexible labour market from adjusting
to meet changes in demand for labour. The wider benefits of collective
bargaining have been deliberately obscured and diminished. For flexible labour
market read low wage, low regulation, and low valuation of a disposable
workforce.
But if politicians
do indeed want to tackle economic insecurity and income inequality – and, yes,
that is a big ‘if’! - then government at all levels must urgently reassess the
benefits of collective bargaining.
During the
referendum campaign we have heard an awful lot about the superior economic and
social performance of the Nordic nations. But this rarely includes reference to
the high levels of trade union membership and very wide collective bargaining
coverage which are at the very centre of their models:
In Norway 72% of
workers are covered by collective agreements. This rises to 82% in Demark and to
90% in Finland. In Sweden the pay, terms and conditions and pension rights of
92% of all workers are safeguarded by collective agreements. It is no accident
that womens’ participation in the labour market is higher in these countries
and that the gender pay gap is lower.
The income
distribution in these countries is – hardly surprisingly – much more fairly
distributed than in Scotland and the UK. Indeed, across all the developed
nations, higher collective bargaining coverage is positively correlated with
lower income inequality. More workers covered by a collective agreement leads
to a fairer distribution of income; end of story.
As with the Nordic
nations, few of the politicians currently in thrall to the German industrial
model have talked about the collective bargaining which helps drive a long term
ethos throughout the system. It appears that when studying the experiences of
other countries people often see only what they want to see.
It’s also revealing
to track over time how the decline in union membership and collective
bargaining coverage is accompanied with the top 1% grasping an even bigger
slice of the cake for themselves.
In 1970 with trade
union membership and collective bargaining coverage at an all-time high in the
UK, the income share of the top 1% was only 5%. As bargaining coverage declined
over the following three decades the income share of the top 1% tripled. The
less workers are covered by collective agreements the greater the ability of
those at the top to loot the gains produced by all.
Congress, this
composite includes a range of proposals which if implemented would go a long
way to ensuring more people benefit from the higher pay and greater security
provided by a collective agreement. The benefits of collective bargaining are
confirmed by a large and accumulating body of research. Politicians, who tell
us they want policy to be evidence based, should really start acting on it. The
Scottish Government now has an opportunity to do exactly that through the
Mather Commission in which the STUC is heavily involved.
And Congress it is
essential that free, independent trade unions are at the core of any new
efforts to extend and improve collective bargaining across the economy. The
last thing Scottish workers need is for their pay, terms and conditions to be
negotiated by ‘employee representatives’ who haven’t been democratically elected
and are usually captured by management. Scotland doesn’t need ostensibly
progressive but practically weak models of workplace relations imported from elsewhere.
This composite is a
litmus test for Government at all levels: seek to support an agenda for
collective bargaining or cease with platitudes about inequality, low wages and decent
work.
But let me make
clear that the STUC General Council knows that increasing the number of people
in Scotland covered by a collective agreement ultimately depends on the
effectiveness of trade union organising agendas. We’re not looking for anyone
else to do this for us. All the measures outlined in this composite seek to
achieve is the creation of a level playing field for union organisers to do
what they do.
It is right that
Scotland’s trade unions are at the forefront of the living wage campaign. The
national minimum wage which has done so much to help the very lowest paid was
also one of our great successes. However, in supporting fair wages across the
economy, protecting hard won terms and conditions and underpinning a better
society it is collective bargaining which really matters.
Congress, I ask you
to support this composite.
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