trade union organisation and financial reform in the Thatcher years /
First Statement of Responsibility
Paul Willman, Timothy Morris, and Beverly Aston.
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.
New York, NY, USA :
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
Cambridge University Press,
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
1993.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
ix, 254 pages :
Other Physical Details
illustrations ;
Dimensions
24 cm
INTERNAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES/INDEXES NOTE
Text of Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 246-249) and indexes.
CONTENTS NOTE
Text of Note
1. Introduction: unions in the 1980s -- 2. The financial status of British trade unions 1950-1989 -- 3. Financial differences between unions -- 4. The role of financial matters in union organisation -- 5. The politics of union finances -- 6. Union size, growth, and financial performance -- 7. Strike activity and union finances -- 8. The National Union of Mineworkers: strikes and financial disaster -- 9. The GMB: merger and financial reform -- 10. The Amalgamated Engineering Union: back from the brink -- 11. The Banking, Insurance and Finance Union: competitive unionism and financial survival -- 12. The Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Trade Union: accountability and financial control -- 13. Conclusions: union business and business unionism -- Appendix 1: Research methods -- Appendix 2: Regression results -- Appendix 3: Questions for finance officers -- Appendix 4: Questions for General Secretaries -- Appendix 5: Questionnaire: trade union finances -- Appendix 6: The number of trade unions.
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SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
It is fashionable to speak of trade unions in the UK as organisations in decline. They have lost membership, power, and influence over the last decade. However, those who have commented on the possible long-term decline, or even disappearance, of unions have not generally examined their organisation or, in particular, their financial status, and these are the factors which ultimately dictate unions' ability to survive, recruit, and influence employers. This book provides the first systematic picture of union financial status for thirty years, and reveals a dramatic picture. Though, overall, unions have become financially less healthy in the post-war period, many unions experienced an improved financial position during the membership contraction of the Thatcher years. The authors analyse the reasons for this, and also reveal the extent to which unions are highly dependent on overt or covert financial support from employers. They also show that the long-term financial decline of unions has been more affected by the competition between unions for membership rather than the effects of traumatic industrial disputes.