• Britain's biggest union, the Transport and General Workers, is
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to launch a recruitment drive to reverse the decline in its membership from over two million 10 years ago to below 1.3 million.
A policy document, Forward with the T&G, aims to expand recruitment areas, seek amalgamations with other unions and forge better links with employers.
Truck driver membership remains healthy at around 100,000 with most losses caused by redundancies rather than resignations. Nevertheless, the TGWU is now trying hard to attract agency drivers and hold on to its truckers.
Deputy general secretary Bill Morris denies that the document is the opening salvo of a recruitment war, stressing that his union is simply responding to changes in economic conditions and working practices. "We are not about to start a recruitment war," he says, "but it has to be made clear that if we are attacked we are going to defend our position. We will not be trampled over by anybody."