Analysis: Voices from the movement: What can the Trade Union Act (2016) tell us about trade union organising?

View/ Open
Main article (744.2Kb)
Download
Publication date
2017Rights
© 2017. Each article © the author. Published version © Renewal Ltd. Accepted manuscript reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.Peer-Reviewed
yes
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Introduction It is easy to think of the Trade Union Act (2016) as ‘Thatcher Round 2’: the economic strategy of austerity once again pits the haves against the have-nots, creating the potential for a re-invigorated trade union movement to return to its economically disruptive habits, which the government seeks to constrict. Thus, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady condemned the Conservatives for ‘refighting the battles of the 1980s’ instead of taking a more constructive approach (O’Grady, 2016). However, while the trade union legislation of the 1980s followed a decade marked by entrenched union disputes, the Trade Union Act (2016) has been introduced against a very different backdrop. The UK currently has historically low levels of industrial action, stagnating levels of union membership and limited areas of union density (DBIS, 2015; Godard, 2011; Dix et al, 2008). Could it be that the Trade Union Act (TUA) has more to tell us about trade union weakness than their strength? The Act comes at an important moment in the history of the labour move- ment. The Conservative austerity agenda not only attacks living standards, but reduces union membership through extensive job losses. The significance of this for the movement is exacerbated because the public sector is the most heavily unionised sector. This matters for many reasons, not least because the movement’s ability to resist the worst excesses of the austerity agenda rests on its membership and strength. This situation in turn shines a spotlight on what is perhaps the most pressing question facing the movement – the need for a model of unionism which can reach beyond the public sector, and in particular which meets the needs of the ever-growing body of precarious workers.Version
Accepted ManuscriptCitation
Porter F, Blakey H, Chater M, Chesters G, Hannam M and Manborde I (2017) Voices from the movement: What can the Trade Union Act tell us about trade union organising? Renewal: A Journal of Social Democracy. 25 (2): 59-73.Link to publisher’s version
https://www.lwbooks.co.uk/renewal/25-2/trade-union-actType
ArticleCollections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Union effectiveness: In Search of the Holy GrailGall, Gregor; Fiorito, J. (2016-01-15)This article revisits the concept of union effectiveness and proposes a conceptual model to inform its study and application. Previous conceptual and empirical work is examined to identify key strengths and weaknesses, and to relate the union effectiveness concept to union renewal and other key concepts. This leads to the proposal of a Goal-System framework that builds and improves on prior research.
-
Meanings and dilemmas in community unionism: trade union community initiatives and black and minority ethnic groups in the UKLucio, M.M.; Perrett, Robert A. (2009)The article shows that community initiatives take different forms and are the outcome of a broader interplay of factors between workers’ interests, representation, and the strategies of unions and broader coalitions that are mobilized in specific communities. Drawing from three case studies on black and minority ethnic (BME) workers and trade unions in the UK the article looks at how the rhetoric of community unionism has been adopted in an uneven manner by trade unions: the article suggests that: (a) community initiatives are variable, (b) they lack a structure and clear vision, (c) the question of BME engagement is rarely central in many projects, and (d) the ambivalent role of the state is a significant factor in many of these initiatives. This state role is downplayed in much of the literature, thus raising dilemmas in terms of community initiatives.
-
Union Recognition in Britain: The End of Legally Induced Voluntarism?Gall, Gregor (2012)The enactment of a third statutory union recognition procedure in Britain in 2000 led to a sharp rise and then fall in the number of new, largely voluntary, union recognition agreements being signed. This article examines and explains this trajectory, finding that the interaction of a weak procedure with its wider environment has led to a situation where the outcome of a reflexive law is heavily determined by the external balance of power in employment relations.