Equal access to Justice at work?

The overall ‘representation gap’ at work has been widened over the past decades, with declining trade union membership and shrinking collective bargaining. The proportion of UK employees who are trade union members now stands at 22 per cent, with membership unevenly distributed between the public sector at 49.9 per cent and the private sector at 11.7 per cent (Department of Business and Trade, 2025). While overall density in Scotland is higher than that of the UK, at 27 per cent, it still means that almost three-quarters of the workforce are not union members. In our ESRC funded project ‘Amplifying worker voice’, we focussed on grassroots organisation supporting workers facing issues at work. Our report on the Inverclyde Advice & Employment Rights Centre (IAERC), an independent local organisation that advocates for non-unionised workers, underlined the importance of local support (Briken et al 2025).

As part of an Impact Accelerator project aiming at capacity building, we are bringing together initiatives that provide collective or individual representation to vulnerable workers to present and discuss challenges, ways to support each other, tool sharing, and the way forward. We welcome groups from across Scotland to present their work, and to provide an opportunity to network.

Presentations/Input confirmed:

· Worker Support Centre, Perth

· Strathclyde Law Clinic, Law School, Strathclyde

· Our Rights In Action-Team (STUC)

· Inverclyde Advice and Employment Rights Centre

· Impact Accelerator Team Dept of Work, Employment and Organisation, Strathclyde Uni

If you have any questions about the workshop, please don't hesitate to reach out to [email protected] or [email protected].

You can find more information about the 'Transforming Working Lives in the West of Scotland' research project and the report on the IAERC here:

Briken, Kendra; Taylor, Phil; Jendro, Eva; Cunningham, Ian; Hadjisolomou, Anastasios; Johnstone, Stewart; McCarthy, Tony, McIntyre, Stuart; Scholarios, Dora (2025): Clients, Cases, Community. The Inverclyde Advice & Employment Rights Centre (IAERC). Research Report. ESRC Project ‘Amplifying Employee Voice and Hearing the Unheard.’ ES/W009951/1. Glasgow: University of Strathclyde Publishing.

Graphics copyright by Farren Philips

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