The Future of Trade Unions

Richard Hyman

Chapter 2 in Unions in the 21st Century, 2004, pp 17-29 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract For some 20 years now, it has been common to refer to a crisis of trade unionism; as one recent survey puts it (Martin and Ross, 1999: 368), ‘unions are under siege’. What the future holds for labour movements – or indeed, whether they still have a future – seems increasingly uncertain. To pose the issues slightly differently, should unions be viewed as the subjects or objects of history? For many critics (trade unionists them-selves as well as academic observers), unions in most countries appear as victims of external forces outside their control, and often also of their own conservative inertia. Or do they still hold the capacity to shape their own future as strategic actors? In all countries, trade unions possess powerful traditions and inherited structures; these all to frequently can constitute a straitjacket, but potentially can provide a resource for creative initiative.

Keywords: Labour Market; Trade Unionism; Trade Union; Industrial Relation; Union Membership (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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_2

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

DOI: 10.1057/9780230524583_2

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 ().