The Decline of Trade Union Organisation

The Decline of Trade Union Organisation (1987) considers the reasons behind the decline in trade union membership and discusses the prospects for recovery. It shows that many factors were at work besides unemployment growth and overall it argues that the changing structure and nature of British industry was having a fundamental affect on the nature of trade union activity. It points to legislation which protects individual employees without the need for union involvement; to the fact that a major growth area is the private services sector which has been traditionally poorly unionised; and the rise in smaller non-union plants.