Trade unions gain their strength from the united influence of their members, but in at least 25 out of 31 European countries there has been a decline in trade union membership from 2006 to 2016.

At the ETUC Paris Congress, trade union growth and increased union density became an ETUC priority. An Ad Hoc Organising Committee was set up to support affiliates’ organising and membership strategies. The ETUC itself does not recruit individual members since this is the responsibility of unions at national and workplace level.