Trade unions as organised forms of labour movements: why this matters in liberal democracies

The debates as to whether trade unions should be viewed as social movements is longstanding. We propose that unions are the organisational forms of the labour movement and that despite declining membership, unions remain influential social, economic, and political actors in liberal democratic states. Following a review of selected literatures about union form and purpose, we note that the ways unions realise their collective strength is complex. Discussion about union governance, leadership and democracy demonstrates unions can recalibrate their resources, strategies, and internal forms of organisation to achieve their common purpose, decent work. We illustrate how unions can act in collective ways to advance better work and employment arrangements for members and their social well-being. Drawing the analysis together we propose that union purpose comprises the pursuit of decent work. Adopting this approach this analysis enables us to understand how union purpose is shaped by members experiences as waged workers.