UK Unions: searching for a new agenda

Throughout Western Europe since 1979 policies directed towards flexibility and deregulation have characterised labour market developments. In the UK these policies have been accompanied by the direct restriction of trade union influence. Between 1980 and 1993 Conservative governments in the UK introduced no fewer than eight Acts to regulate union activity. In addition, most tripartite institutions were abandoned, thereby excluding the trade unions from any role in macro-economic policy-making. Within this political environment, employers decentralised bargaining and narrowed the scope of collective job controls. The combined effect of these developments was to place trade unions on the defensive and to encourage the search for a new policy agenda appropriate for the circumstances of the 1990s. This paper reviews four key elements of this new policy agenda: recruitment strategies, modernising trade union structure, a social partnership with employers, and embracing the law. Although many modernising initiatives have been introduced by unions in the UK, it is far from certain that they are sufficient to reverse the decline that has taken place. In each of the policy areas discussed here, it is the tension between workplace and national union structures that is central to reform. The paper shows that workplace organisation in many areas is now isolated and national unions have been unable to support activities in the workplace.