With each under new leadership, three unions are currently undertaking organisational redesign programmes in an effort to re-imagine their role and stave off further decline and by increasing membership, member participation, and by renewing their influence. The unions are: Prospect (professionals), the CWU communication union, and the TSSA transport union. All three unions face a challenging environment in terms of a hostile government, constant organisational churn in companies and slack labour markets.
Declining membership. The three unions’ membership levels are shown below in millions. The scale of retrenchment is shown for the CWU and the TSSA not just by looking by to 2007 but also back to 1997.
| Union/Year | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 1997 |
| CWU | 0.197 | 0.202 | 0.202 | 0.204 | 0.208 | 0.218 | 0.231 | 0.237 | 0.240 | 0.275 |
| Prospect | 0.115 | 0.117 | 0.119 | 0.123 | 0.120 | 0.123 | 0.121 | 0.103 | 0.102 | 0.108 |
| TSSA | 0.021 | 0.022 | 0.023 | 0.025 | 0.027 | 0.028 | 0.029 | 0.029 |
Do you have information to share with us?