ABSTRACT

This chapter positions trade unions as a significant employment relations actor and explores union approaches to and action on equality, diversity, and inclusion. For background, it outlines contemporary patterns of union membership and then proceeds to summarise union objectives and action on equality, diversity, and inclusion. The chapter also discusses trade union responses to the contemporary diversity management paradigm and equality, diversity, and inclusion in the internal context of trade union organisation and democracy. The chapter shows that the union role in advancing equality, diversity, and inclusion is broad based seeking both to enforce and to build upon employees’ legal rights via representation of individual members and via collective bargaining. The chapter acknowledges that unions are (and have been for some time) operating in a hostile climate, with constrained resources and that they will only realise their potential to act as equality and diversity actors if they strengthen their influence by increasing their membership and their presence in workplaces.