Trade unions are normally industry specific and represent workers of a particular type of job in an industry, such as teachers, journalists and transport workers (though there are general unions that represent different kinds of workers in a variety of industries).
UK membership of trade unions peaked in 1979 at around 13.2 million workers. Since 1980, the power of trade unions to disrupt business activities has been legally reduced through a number of Acts of Parliament. Membership numbers have risen slightly since 2017 but are now around 6.7 million workers — around half the peak level. Although trade union strikes and other forms of industrial action are not as widespread as they were in the 1970s, strikes have emerged again in recent months and the debate still continues about whether trade unions are good or bad for an economy.
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