Trade union organisation

Union organisation was studied by Lord (Bill) McCarthy throughout his academic career. It also figured large in his political engagement with national policy making under both Labour and Conservative Governments. From 1968 onwards he was particularly interested in conducting research into, and producing related publications and unpublished papers on, the efficacy of various models of union structure and union government. The following article therefore focuses on these two critically important aspects of union organisation. It also assesses the different roles Bill played in his attempts to influence the reform of union organisation between 1968 and 1979, a relatively, and at least initially, benign political period and his attempts to protect union organisation in the more hostile political and economic climate of 1979 to 1996. It is also argued that Bill, following his appointment as Labour's front bench spokesman in the House of Lords in 1980, now occupied his niche role.