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One of the most worrying things I found when trying to recruit people to the union in my last job -- administration work in a university -- was that many people under 30 had no idea of what a trade union was and what its role was in the workplace and more generally. I remember in the late 1970s and 1980s when I went around the workplace trying to recruit people that I met those who were hostile to the idea of unions, people influenced by right-wing ideas, but even most youngsters had some idea of what a union was for and what it did. I spent a fair amount of the 1990s studying at university and so was outwith a working environment. When I returned to work in the early 2000s, such had been the decline in organised labour in Britain that I found that many young people weren't hostile to unions, but didn't view them as having any relevance to their life. They seemed almost alien to them. Recruitment was not at all easy, although, on the positive side, when we had successful actions in respect of pay or conditions, or when we managed to beat the management on a personal case, then recruitment would improve a bit. Have list members had similar experiences in other countries? Paul F ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
