This book features original research underpinned with theory drawn from economics, organization theory, history and social psychology. The authors deliver a comprehensive analysis of trade unions’ prospects in the new millennium as well as case studies which deal with topical issues such as:

• the reasons for the loss of five million members in the 1980s and 1990s


• the way in which unions’ own structures inhibit their revitalization


• the apparent failure of unions to thrive in the benign times since 1997


• the extent to which use of the internet will permit unions to break with their tradition of organizing by occupation or industry


• the prospects for real social partnership at national level


• the way in which high performance workplaces in the US give voice to workers without unions.

Written by some of the leading scholars in the area, this book gives an insight into union prospects for the future and has important policy implications for all parties concerned with industrial relations, unions, employers and governments.