There's a new world somewhere: The rediscovery of trade unionism Capital & Class, Autumn 2005 by Stirling, John

There's a new world somewhere: The rediscovery of trade unionism Capital & Class, Autumn 2005 by Stirling, John


two repsonse to union decline, firstly workplace neglect and then the idea of mobilisation and "union renewal"

Also puts the decline in trade unions down to changes in employment; management's human resource strategies; a hostile government; and the growth of 'individualism'.

Changes in employment:

"a labour market in which trade union membership was strong was replaced with one in which it was traditionally weak" p3

HR departments used to replace trade union organisations

"a cultural shift away from collectivism and towards consumerist individualism that was reflected in the workplace (Bacon & Storey, 1993" characterised by individual bonuses etc replacing the typical fordist arrangement of rates of pay and collective bargainging



"this first-stage response of the trade unions might be described as passive, reactive and accommodating to employers, with workplace organisation left to fend for itself" p4

excellent figures on the decline of british trade unionism contained here argues shopfloor organisatons are resilent

"the argument that women or young people 'just didn't join' unions was challenged by data suggesting that the issue was more one of lack of opportunity than of predisposition (Disney et al., 1998)." p5

a factor critical in the new unionism is this "here was strong evidence that 'local union organisation underpins recruitment' (Waddington & Whitson, 1997: 15), and that new members join for collective reasons related to support when facing problems at work (ibid.), rather than for cheap holidays or insurance, which were better provided on the High Street or on the internet." p 5

negativity of a service union culture emphaisise on others precludes self actiity, reliance on oficers - leads to blame culture among members, and then officers blame members for apathy.

Heery, 19983, and the recent range of examples in the collections from Gall, 2003; Gospel & Wood, 2003; and Kelly & Willman, 2004 all detail new union campaigns.

n organising culture is more likely to lead to permanent change or, as Heery et al. succinctly put it, 'It's not a recruitment drive ... it's the rest of your life' (1998).

3 models of union renewal
organising for abanndoning, organising for consuming and organising for action...

there are two types of trade unionist passive voters and activiststts which are the subject of my interviews?

"Effectively, the partnership agreement becomes the property of the senior managers and workplace representatives, or the full-time union officials who negotiated it, and the workforce as a whole may even be unaware of its existence (McBride & Stirling, 2002)."

"a partnership agreement that increasingly identifies the union with management and which offers no support to independent union action does little to encourage new membership, and may well promote cynicism in the existing membership (Wray, 2001)." p13



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