Union membership lowest in hospitality industry

Trade union membership is lower in hotels and restaurants than in any other industry, according to a survey published today.

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Few workers are union members

The Labour Market Trends survey, published by National Statistics, shows that only 5% of hotel and restaurant workers belong to a union. The highest union representation is in the public administration sector, where the figure is 59%. Dave Turnbull, London regional organiser at the T&G Union, was not surprised by the findings. He said: "The basic problem is hostility by employers towards the idea of trade unions. "A lot of people we talk to in the industry are frightened to belong to trade unions because they are afraid they are going to be victimised by employers with prejudices." No-one from the British Hospitality Association or Restaurant Association was immediately available to comment on the survey findings. Across all industries in the UK, trade union membership rose by 46,000 to 7.9 million in the year to March. Despite the rise, the proportion of employees who were in a union decreased slightly to 29.4%, from 29.5% the previous year. This was because the number of employees rose faster than the number of union members.