Presenting an extensive survey of continuity and change in trade unions of the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, this contemporary text provides a firm basis for informed discussion about the place of trade unions in modern economies.

Trade union movements in many countries face uncertain futures. After three decades of extensive economic restructuring at both national and international levels, often accompanied by major legislative reforms, the way forward for unions is unclear. Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, in most developed economies, union membership declined massively and union leaders and their members lost their former prominence and their place in the polity. Will trade unions be able to re-establish their past salience in the bargaining arena and in the polity? Or, given the uncertainties of...

Perestroika's fate was determined by the hostile reaction of the working class. Strikes, protest and the fear of working class action had a devastating impact, yet relatively little is known about the workers' movement during this period.

In recent decades, trade unions have suffered major reversals and experienced declining memberships. Transnational corporations and state-owned multi-nationals have increasingly implemented deteriorating terms and conditions of employment, with vulnerable and insecure job contracts.

In this context, there has been a wide-ranging debate about the form of trade unionism, the bases for collective organization and struggle and the future of trade unionism. This book addresses these questions both theoretically, in relation to debates, as well as substantively via a series of selected...