Theorising practice: independent trade unions in the UK

Vera Weghmann

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Labor Movements and Unions Employment, Labor, and Gender Studies Legal and Labor Studies

Abstract

This Theory into Practice piece uses theoretical underpinnings of Ness as well as Cleaver and Sivanandan to explore the role of two independent trade unions that emerged in the UK in the mid 2010s, namely the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) in 2012 and the United Voices of the World (UVW) in 2014. Despite being of relatively small size (each has a membership of under 10,000) and with few financial resources, they have been praised for their ground-breaking and ‘significant high-profile wins’ in ‘David and Goliath’ battles. In this article I discuss why low paid, largely migrant workers have organised within these independent unions; and the extent to which they have applied syndicalist tactics and strategies. The analysis is rooted in my practice, as someone who was involved in the IWGB from the start and then co-founded the UVW in 2014.

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References

2011The precariat: the new dangerous class 1963British Journal of Industrial Relations.2005Work, Employment and Society 1982A Different Hunger: Writings on Black Resistance 2004Building reciprocal community unionism in the UK 2019Indie Unions, Organizing and Labour Renewal: Learning from Precarious Migrant Workers 2018Migrating Industrial Relations: Migrant Workers’ Initiative Within and Outside Trade Unions 2021Confronting Race and Other Social Identity Erasures: The Case for Critical Industrial Relations Theory

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2023The tail that wags the dog: lessons from the UK's independent unions for class struggle trade unionism 2025Labour struggles as lived citizenship. Precarious migrant workers as agents of change

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