The past and future of trade unionism
Employee Relations. The International Journal
2015
37
6
12 p.
future ; history ; trade union ; TUC
Trade unionism
English
Bibliogr.
"Purpose
The purpose of this article is to offer a broad practitioner's overview of recent trade union history in the UK, and to investigate organised labour's prospects in the decades ahead.
Design/methodology/approach
The article is based on a review of relevant literature and trade union documentation from the period 1964 to 2014.
Findings
This article concludes that the past 50 years has been a period of change and turbulence for the movement, and suggests that this is likely to remain the case in the decades to come. Although external political and economic factors will have a significant bearing on unions' prospects, the article argues that unions remain powerful agents of change in their own right and that a revival of organised labour is not beyond question.
Originality/value
The article is written with unique practitioner insight from the UK's trade union centre."
Digital
The ETUI is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the ETUI.