Union decline, minority ethnic workers and employment advice in local communities

There is substantial evidence that workplace problems among British workers are widespread. In 2001, the British Worker Representation and Participation survey found 38% of respondents had problems at work. Unionised workers can seek support from their trade union—but union membership is now a minority. Workers generally have poor knowledge and understanding of their employment rights and information and advice is uncoordinated and spread across informal help, libraries, the Internet telephone helplines, equality bodies, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, solicitors and other legal advisers. So where, in practice, do the non-unionised go? This is the question being asked by a team at the Working Lives Research Institute at London Metropolitan University who have been conducting research with three minority ethnic communities in London to investigate the different factors influencing the way that workers seek advice for workplace problems. The study has focused on three locally based ethnic groups: Kurds in Hackney, South Asians in Ealing and black Caribbeans in Lambeth. The 3-year Economic and Social Research Council-funded research project is still ongoing and draws on data from over 120 in-depth face-to-face interviews with people working in third-sector organisations such as Law Centres and other advice and advocacy organisations like Citizens Advice Bureaux, local solicitors' firms, community organisations, faith groups and local council representatives. Individual workers have also been interviewed to understand how they respond when faced with a problem at work and where they turn for help or advice.