Towards a New Unionism? The Deal, The Company, The Union and The Member

The past two decades have witnessed several notable changes in the employee relations climate in the UK. Most obviously, there has been the dramatic decline in union membership and densities. In part this has been due to structural changes in the economy and more specifically the shift from strongly unionised heavy industry (coal, steel, shipbuilding etc) to lighter manufacturing and services. However, this merely represents a quantitative shift. Arguably, there has been as important a shift in the qualitative nature of the labour relations climate. The two, of course, are not unconnected. In a context of two major economic recessions and a more general, but not less dramatic erosion of the manufacturing base, employers' have arguably found it easier to force concessions from organised labour on a variety of issues. Allied to this, of course, has been the permissive nature of government legislation throughout the last fourteen years.