The average Irish worker has a positive attitude to trade unions but has little direct involvement with them, according to a survey conducted for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. The favourable view of unions extends to workers who are not currently members; a majority of these say they would like to join a union. Support is also above average among the young, contradicting the common view of young people as individualistic and politically uninterested.
The survey finds massive support for social partnership and a perception among the public that unions have become more successful in recent years.
The ICTU general secretary, Mr Peter Cassells, said the survey was the first part in a major "listening process" designed to keep unions relevant to working people into the new millennium. More than 50 trade union leaders are debating the results of the survey and the future for the movement at a three-day seminar in Galway this week.
Union membership among Irish workers is one of the highest in Western countries, at about 48 per cent. But the survey finds that 59 per cent of non-members would join if they had the opportunity.
Of the rest, one half have responded that they weren't sure what a union could do for them, and one-quarter said they had never been approached. According to Mr Cassells, this shows that there is little resistance to unions. "The traditional arguments used to dismiss unions have turned out to be wrong," he said.
However, only 7 per cent of members are actively involved in their unions, while almost 70 per cent say they are rarely involved.
As well as the traditional concerns of pay and conditions, issues of growing importance to respondents include fairer taxation, profit-sharing, pensions and flexibility at work.
Mr Cassells said the growing flexibility in work practices had not been underpinned by the kind of assurances that workers wanted. He singled out this area, and that of part-time workers, for closer examination by the ICTU. Union membership among part-time workers in the survey was 22 per cent, compared to 40 per cent for full-time workers.
The main union successes in recent years were perceived as better pay, training, health and safety and equal opportunities.
Some 1,000 people were interviewed for the survey, which was carried out by Research and Evaluation Services.
