TUC and Unions 21 Research Young people unions

TUC and Unions 21 Research Young people, unions and the cuts March 2011 Rachel Lopata

Workplace issues PASSIVE ACCEPTANCE Group 1 Content Recession can’t be helped Group 2 Uncertainty, no clarity ‘Wait & See’ Group 3 Low expectations ‘ ‘I have no rights’

Previous Findings

Word Association – “Trade Unions” Neutral associations ? ? ? ? I don’t know ? ? ? ? I don’t understand

Word Association – “Trade Unions” The Positives

Word Association – “Trade Unions” The Negatives

Four key themes Lack of awareness visibility and understanding Lack of ‘push factors’ Lack of ‘pull factors’ Repellent factors

Recruitment Materials

The Cuts Confusion over why? Acceptance that cuts are needed Lack of trust in anyone Even if you watch all the news and read all the papers, you get a different opinion from everything… so what’s really going on? Noone ever knows because its so distorted……what are you supposed to think? No personal pain, yet I am powerless Keep quiet, I will get this wrong

Conclusions § § § Many of the barriers and perceptions highlighted in previous research, remain strong Recruitment strategies need to start with the basics – what is a union? why might I need one? Passive acceptance of workplace issues Concepts of fairness chime well with TUC values Confusion over the deficit is coupled with cynicism and lack of trust in anyone to tell them the truth