Changing Prospects for Trade Unionism

by Fairbrother,Peter

• ISBN13: 9780826458117
• ISBN10: 0826458114
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-07-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

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 internationalized economies and states, will the first decade of this new century see further declines in union strength and power? This book examines these and related questions by exploring the background, current roles and prospects of trade unions in six English-speaking countries.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors	vi
List of Abbreviations	vii
Introduction: Trade Unions Facing the Future	1	(20)
Peter Fairbrother
Gerard Griffin
Unions in Australia: Struggling to Survive	21	(35)
Gerard Griffin
Stuart Svensen
Unions in Britain: Towards a New Unionism?	56	(37)
Peter Fairbrother
Unions in Canada: Strategic Renewal, Strategic Conundrums	93	(44)
Gregor Murray
Irish Unions: Testing the Limits of Social Partnership	137	(40)
William K. Roche
Jacqueline Ashmore
Unions in New Zealand: What the Law Giveth...	177	(23)
Raymond Harbridge
Aaron Crawford
Kevin Hince
American Unions at the Start of the Twenty-first Century: Going Back to the Future?	200	(38)
Paul Jarley
Conclusion: The State of the Unions	238	(19)
Gerard Griffin
Peter Fairbrother
Index	257