Union membership declining - CSO

Union membership in Ireland continued to fall last year, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office.

The CSO reported today that 31.5 per cent of the workforce held union membership in the second quarter of 2007, down from 37.4 per cent in the same period of 2003. 

A total of 551,700 employees over the age of 15 were members of a union in the period from March to May last year. Another 1,160,300 were not union members.

The Quarterly National Household Survey also finds that part-time workers were far less likely to be union members than full-time staff.

Some 36.4 per cent of full-time employees said they were union members during the second quarter of last year, compared to just 19 per cent of part-timers.

The survey found that people working between 30 and 34 hours per week were ten times more likely to be union members than those averaging between one and nine hours.

Only 6.1 per cent of workers in the 15 to 19 age group were members of a union, compared to 47 per cent in the 45 to 54 range. Rates of membership among the 45 to 54 age group remained static between 2005 and 2007, while the percentage of union membership among 55 to 59 -year olds increased slightly.

The CSO said the trend of declining union membership has continued across all sectors from 2005 to 2007, with the health and construction industries showing the most marked reductions.

The highest rate of membership is reported in the public administration and defence sectors, where some 79 per cent are in a union. In the hospitality and agriculture, forestry and fishing industries, a mere eight per cent of staff held union membership.