THE negative impact of privatisation policies on union membership has been recorded in countries in Central America and the Caribbean. One study commented that one of the functions of privatisation and economic reform packages was "to weaken the strength of the trade unions by raising the level of unemployment. This weakening has been furthered by government attempts to increase divisions within the union movement and, through the use of repression, to intimidate those workers who might be prepared to take a stand. " Evans (1995).

One of the major impacts of the privatisation programme in the UK has been redundancy. One study showed that since their privatisation utilities in Britain have sacked nearly 25% of their workforce or nearly 100,000 workers. It could be argued that some or all of these jobs could have been sustained if the cash distributed as dividends had been paid as wages at the average rate.

The shift to compulsory competitive tendering has also made it more likely for those services to be transferred from national pay and conditions to local bargaining where employees on each contract might be subject to a different set of conditions. Each contract may well be put under pressure to reduce costs each time the contract is up for re-tendering.

The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) study reports a substantial loss of trade union membership in local authorities associated with the introduction of Compulsory Competitive Tendering. Formerly unionised part-time workers have ceased to be union members while new part-time workers have often not been recruited by the unions. Few private contractors have been organised and full recognition and negotiating rights have rarely been achieved.

The privatisation of public enterprises accounted for three quarters of all privatisation’s in the EU in 1995

As a result of privatisation, the levels of union membership have fallen faster in the private than in the public sector. The result is a fall in union membership in former public sector companies which have a significant private sector component. In transport and communications, union density is 75% in the public sector but only 35% in the private sector. In public administration, the figures are 79% and 31 % respectively. Local bargaining and non-membership of a trade union further weaken women workers' position.

There has been a growth in ‘atypical' forms of employment- part-time work, homework and other forms of casualised work. These are more easily left outside of labour legislation, social security systems and collective agreements. The continuing spread of privatisation seems unlikely to change this trend and indeed the experiences of the women in Nicaragua, Eastern and Central Europe and the UK, suggest that privatisation, as it is currently being implemented, may make their position even more marginal. Women's wages have remained lower than men's - typically at 50% to 80% of men's wages. Although there has been growth in women's employment, this has not been matched by the quality of the majority of jobs to which women have access.

Both domestic and international investors in privatisation have shown generally hostile attitudes towards trade union organising.

A major impact of the process of privatisation has been to weaken the capacity of trade unions to defend their members. The growth in unemployment and fewer full-time jobs with a corresponding rise in part-time 'flexible' and casualised work in an increasingly competitive environment have damaged membership.

In most countries trade unions have been struggling just to hold on to basic economic and political rights. Both domestic and international investors in privatisation have shown generally hostile attitudes towards trade union organising. Trade unions have often been excluded from any say in the pace or scale of change or in the implementation of accompanying (generally inadequate) social programmes to help those worst affected. The result has been numerous clashes with governments, particularly over the effects of austerity budgets and badly thought out plans for privatisation.

Trade unions have struggled to maintain their membership in the newly privatised sectors and have little capacity to develop more appropriate forms of organising to meet the growth in casualised and sub-contracted work. If this is the case for the relatively longer established and richer trade unions of the industrialised countries, the problems are much greater in many unions in the South.

Trade unionists in the South also struggle against the broader context of economic reforms that emphasise individuals' needs. Rene Loewenson from the Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions comments that social mobilisation is more difficult to achieve under conditions where every service has its price. Changes in labour laws, deregulation and free market approaches intensify these problems. In Zimbabwe, she thinks, unions in the textile and garment industries lost their powers not only because of legislation limiting existing unions powers, but also because unions were not organised to counteract fragmentation and individualism.

Send mail to all participants [isc@tsl.fi] For problems or questions regarding this site contact [Alana Dave] Technical problems and ideas contact [Technical staff]