scholarly journals Political attitudes, participation and union membership in the UK

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Trentini
Keyword(s):  
Union Membership ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
The Uk

Political attitudes and trade union membership in the Nordic countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Strøby Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
The Impact

Do political attitudes influence the likelihood of employees being members of a trade union, and to what extent is this the case in the Nordic countries with their high aggregate levels of membership? In this article, I address these questions using European Social Survey data from 2012. The results show that left-wing political attitudes have the most impact on the likelihood of trade union membership in Sweden and to a lesser extent in Denmark. In Norway and Finland, there is no statistically significant impact. I argue that the impact of left-wing political attitudes on unionization in Sweden and Denmark reflects a conception among employees that trade unions are normative organizations.

The Referendum in Britain

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy Atkinson ◽  
Andrew Blick ◽  
Matt Qvortrup
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Political System ◽  
British History ◽  
The Political ◽  
British Politics ◽  
International Context ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Practical Instrument

The tumultuous Brexit experience demonstrated the potentially immense significance of the referendum to British politics. This episode demonstrated the importance of extensive assessment of this democratic device. One means of gaining greater understanding of the referendum is by considering it in the context of British history, both as an idea and as a practical instrument. This work fills a gap in the existing literature in considering the origins and implementation of referendums in Britain. It considers a number of themes that have arisen in the context of the most recent British referendum (on European Union membership in 2016): the place of referendums within British democracy; their particular application at given times; the reasons they are held; to whom they might and might not appeal and why; their consequences; and their tendency to generate controversy. It addresses the following overarching question: when and why did such votes take place in the UK? It also asks: (from the perspective of Britain) how did the idea of using the referendum develop; what was the significance of the international context for the advocacy and application of this device; how was it perceived; to what extent and how did it come to be incorporated into the political system; and what has been the significance of the referendum; especially from the perspective of the British constitution?

scholarly journals The Trades Union Congress 150 years on

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Simms ◽  
Jane Holgate ◽  
Carl Roper
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
The Uk ◽  
New Unionism

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect on how the UK’s Trade Union Congress, in the 150th year of its formation, has been responding to the significant changes in the labour market, working practices and union decline. The paper considers Trades Union Congress (TUC) initiatives to recruit and organise new groups of workers as it struggles to adapt to the new world of work many workers are experiencing. Although the paper reviews progress in this regard it also considers current and future challenges all of which are becoming increasingly urgent as the current cohort of union membership is aging and presents a demographic time bomb unless new strategies and tactics are adopted to bring in new groups of workers – particularly younger workers. Design/methodology/approach This is a review paper so it mainly draws on writings (both academic and practitioner) on trade union strategy and tactics in relations to organising approaches and in particularly the TUC’s initiatives from the period of “New Unionism” onwards. Findings The authors note that while unions have managed to retain a presence in workplaces and industries where they membership and recognition, there has, despite a “turn to organising” been less success than was perhaps hoped for when new organising initiatives were introduced in 1998. In order to expand the bases of organisation into new workplaces and in new constituencies there needs to be a move away from the “institutional sclerosis” that has prevented unions adapting to the changing nature of employment and the labour market restructuring. The paper concludes that in order to effect transformative change requires leaders to develop strategic capacity and innovation among staff and the wider union membership. This may require unions to rethink the way that they operate and be open to doing thing radically different. Originality/value The paper’s value is that it provides a comprehensive overview of the TUC’s role in attempting to inject an organising culture with the UK union movement by drawing out some of the key debates on this topic from both scholarly and practitioner writings over the last few decades.

Sources of variation in trade union membership across the UK: the case of Wales

2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 200-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huw Beynon ◽  
Rhys Davies ◽  
Steve Davies
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Sources Of Variation ◽  
The Uk

Union Membership and the Union Wage Gap in the UK

Labour ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Reza Arabsheibani ◽  
Alan Marin
Keyword(s):  
Union Membership ◽  
Union Wage ◽  
Wage Gap ◽  
The Uk

scholarly journals Union learning representatives in the UK: activity, impact and organization

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Saundry ◽  
Valerie Antcliff ◽  
Alison Hollinrake
Keyword(s):  
Workplace Learning ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
State Policy ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Liberal State ◽  
Training Outcomes ◽  
Approach To Learning ◽  
Opposing View ◽  
The Uk

The debate over the significance of union learning representatives (ULRs) in the UK has become increasingly polarized. Some commentators see little prospect of ULRs contributing to advancing either workplace learning or union organization due to the constraints of neo-liberal state policy. An opposing view emphasizes union agency in developing a collective approach to learning and extended joint regulation through a process of critical engagement. This article presents analysis of data from the 2009 National Survey of ULRs, which finds a positive relationship between ULR activity and its impact in enhancing training outcomes, increasing union membership and the joint regulation of workplace learning. This supports arguments that agency of ULRs is not inevitably suppressed by the structural limitations of union learning.

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