Unions in retreat across Europe

Trade unions have lost members and influence over the past 20 years in almost all European countries. High unemployment, an increasingly deregulated labour market and weaker safety nets makes many workers weary of putting their demands forwards and to become union members. Unions in several countries also criticise what they see as a relatively self-congratulatory Nordic model.

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Fast dwindling membership numbers

Union book

In the last 20 years the number of European trade union members has fallen from 66 to 60 million people, according to figures from the European Trade Union Configuration. In their book ‘Union Decline - reports from Europe’ labour market journalists Anna Danielsson Öberg and Tommy Öberg look at why unions have been forced back and at the effects of dwindling membership numbers. They chose to describe how things have developed in five European countries, and in spring 2012 they visited Estonia, Germany, Italy and Norway as well as their home country Sweden. They have interviewed trade union leaders and researchers to get their views on developments.

The book paints a bleak picture of how workers are loosing security and are forced to accept worsening conditions. The risk of unemployment combined with a more deregulated labour market and weakened job security creates a fear which forces union membership and the will to demand better condition onto the back burner. But unions also accept that they have not realised the size of the problems and done something about them in time. There is also criticism against Nordic trade unions which sometimes seem to have trouble understanding and supporting other realities than their own

The downward trend in union membership is the same across Europe with a few exceptions, including Norway.

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Unions in retreat across Europe