Union Voices - by Melanie Simms & Jane Holgate & Edmund Heery (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book evaluates how British labor unions fared in the political and institutional context created by Great Britain's New Labour government between 1997 and 2010.

Book Synopsis

In Union Voices, the result of a thirteen-year research project, three industrial relations scholars evaluate how labor unions fared in the political and institutional context created by Great Britain's New Labour government, which was in power from 1997 to 2010. Drawing on extensive empirical evidence, Melanie Simms, Jane Holgate, and Edmund Heery present a multilevel analysis of what organizing means in the UK, how it emerged, and what its impact has been.

Although the supportive legislation of the New Labour government led to considerable optimism in the late 1990s about the prospects for renewal, Simms, Holgate, and Heery argue that despite considerable evidence of investment, new practices, and innovation, UK unions have largely failed to see any significant change in their membership and influence. The authors argue that this is because of the wider context within which organizing activity takes place and also reflects the fundamental tensions within these initiatives. Even without evidence of any significant growth in labor influence across UK society more broadly, organizing campaigns have given many of the participants an opportunity to grow and flourish. The book presents their experiences and uses them to show how their personal commitment to organizing and trade unionism can sometimes be undermined by the tensions and tactics used during campaigns.

Review Quotes

The book contains well over a decade of intensive research on union organizing strategy, campaigns, and activist development that is simply unparalleled....The primary strength of this book is its exhaustive examination of organizing within the confines of UK union renewal. Here, the book situates itself among leading labour renewal research in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia.

Through their enormous wealth of longitudinal data, the authors provide a nuanced analysis and a more complex evaluation of union organizing than has any previous work. Offering the reader 'thick' descriptions, this comprehensive study is accessible to academics and practitioners alike....[T]he authors do a remarkable job of explaining the intricacies in an accessible way and disentangling the complexities for a broader audience....Union Voices should be on the shelf of every academic and practitioner interested in understanding the opportunities and challenges of union organizing or in the future of the British labor movement more broadly.

About the Author

Melanie Simms is Associate Professor of Industrial Relations at the University of Warwick. Jane Holgate is Senior Lecturer in Work and Employment Relations at Leeds University. Edmund Heery is Professor of Employment Relations at Cardiff Business School. He is the coauthor of Working for the Union and Management Control and Union Power and coeditor of several books.