Trade Unions at the Crossroads

Identifying the possibilities for, and barriers against, the renewal of unionism in the workplace following a decade of restructuring, this book considers and contrasts workplace trade unionism in three sectors: manufacturing, public services and utilities. The focus on the public sector and utilities, which has been largely overlooked in the literature on trade unionism, is a distinctive feature of this book. The research is centred on the British West Midlands and built around in-depth interviews with leading participants in 24 union groups. The author develops the argument that, far from being irrelevant and marginal, trade unionism is beginning to renew itself in innovative and imaginative ways. In the long run, this is likely to change significantly the pattern of trade unionism in Britain and other capitalist countries.