Opinions on Unions and Work Part 2 year 2011

Organisational issues Views on trade union membership: In the middle of the 1990s almost 90 percent of workers were members of a trade union. Since then there has been a slow but steady decrease of the union membership.

Published 2013-07-07 Updated 2019-10-03

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In 2007 the raised fees of unemployment insurance accelerated the decline of affiliated members and during the first quarter of 2011 the quota of the total union membership was the lowest in over 40 years – 69 percent.

The decrease in the number of union members can be explained by the economic turns, structural changes and raised fees of unemployment insurance. However the question is whether there have also been changes in people's attitudes and confidence towards union membership.

According to the second part of the report series "Opinions on Unions and Work" – which assess the workers view of union membership – no such signs are yet to be seen.