Negating or Affirming the Organising Model? The Case of the Congress of South African Trade Unions

Geoffrey Wood

Chapter 16 in Unions in the 21st Century, 2004, pp 220-238 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract From the mid-1970s to the 1990s, union membership decreased significantly in most of the advanced societies. This resulted in a major rethink in union strategies, with renewed attention being placed on out-reach, and on drawing in previously neglected categories of labour. Particularly influential was the ‘organising model’, which sought to shift the role of unions from simply servicing existing members in day-to-day disputes, to one where contestations are broadened into community struggles over questions of social justice (Roberts, 1999: 38). Hence, traditional forms of activity were broadened to encompass a wide range of social issues, with a far stronger emphasis being placed on recruitment and out-reach (Frege, 1999: 279). Although originating in the United States, the organising model proved influential throughout the Anglo-Saxon world (Wood and Brewster, 2002; c.f. Gall, 2003).

Keywords: Social Movement; Trade Union; Labour Movement; African National Congress; South African Context (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-52458-3_16

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9780230524583

DOI: 10.1057/9780230524583_16

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().