Union Business: Trade Union Organisation and Financial Reform in the Thatcher Years

by Paul Willman, Beverly Aston, Tim Morris

Overview

It is fashionable to speak of trade unions in the UK as organizations in decline. However, it is their organization and, in particular, their financial status, that ultimately dictates unions' ability to survive, recruit and influence employers. This book provides the first systematic picture of union financial status for thirty years, and reveals a dramatic picture. Though, overall, unions have become financially less healthy in the postwar period, many unions experienced an improved financial position during the membership contraction of the Thatcher years. The authors also show that the long term financial decline of unions has been affected more by competition among unions for membership, than by the effects of traumatic industrial disputes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521153133
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/10/2010
Pages:	268
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: unions in the 1980s; 2. The financial status of British trade unions 1950–1989; 3. Financial differences between unions; 4. The role of financial matters in union organisation; 5. The politics of union finances; 6. Union size, growth and financial performance; 7. Strike activity and union finances; 8. The National Union of Mineworkers: strikes and financial disaster; 9. The GMB: merger and financial reform; 10. The Amalgamated Engineering Union: back from the brink; 11. The Banking, Insurance and Finance Union: competitive unionism and financial survival; 12. The Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Trade Union: accountability and financial control; 13. Conclusions: union business and business unionism; Appendices; References.

Editorial Reviews

Review of the hardback: ' … fascinating analysis of trade union finances during the Thatcher years … The book provides a wealth of topical data on union finances with chapters on more interesting cases such as the Mineworkers, the Engineers and the Electricians. But its more general interest lies in its focus on an important and neglected issue: the reliance of trade unions for their very survival on the goodwill of employers.' Robert Taylor, Independent

From the Publisher