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Communists resolve to help build ‘militant shop stewards' movement’ to reverse long-term trends of decline in trade unions
NHS workers take part in a march from St Thomas' Hospital to Trafalgar Square, London, as members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the Unite union continue their strike action in a dispute over pay. Picture date: Monday May 1, 2023

COMMUNISTS committed to work to build a militant shop stewards’ movement at their 57th Congress today, resolving that “the strength of the trade union movement can be linked directly, though not exclusively, to the collective power of workers on the shop floor.”

Merseyside delegate Nigel Flanagan warned that trade unions, “despite a summer of outstanding action and some successes, are still suffering from long-term trends of decline.

“Even during the strike wave, trade union membership declined by another 200,000 — 122,000 of them were women workers in the private sector,” he stressed.

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