IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/treure/v19y2013i4p521-538.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Membership growth at a time of union decline

Author

Listed:
  • Carl Parker

    (Bigger Brighter Better, Manchester)

  • James Rees

    (ReesBann Associates, Liverpool)

Abstract

The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) is a general (multi trade) union in the UK, predominately organizing in the retail and distribution sectors. Since 2006 Usdaw has increased its membership by 84 000 members – an increase of 26 per cent, making it in this respect the most successful TUC-affiliated union in the UK. This growth coincided with Usdaw’s decision to develop itself as an organizing union, which involved the establishment of an Usdaw Organising Academy, a paradigm shift in its approach to organizing, and the creative development of new systems and practices to manage the union. This article describes this process of change and so goes some way to providing an explanation for Usdaw’s success. The article also situates Usdaw’s approach within the broader academic and policy debates about implementing the Organizing Model, and draws out some general lessons from Usdaw’s experience.

Suggested Citation

  • Carl Parker & James Rees, 2013. "Membership growth at a time of union decline," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 19(4), pages 521-538, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:19:y:2013:i:4:p:521-538
    DOI: 10.1177/1024258913501768
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1024258913501768
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1024258913501768?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ralph Darlington, 2009. "Organising, Militancy and Revitalisation: The Case of the RMT Union," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Gregor Gall (ed.), Union Revitalisation in Advanced Economies, chapter 5, pages 83-106, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Simon Turberville, 2009. "Goodbye to All That? Assessing the Organising Model," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Gregor Gall (ed.), Union Revitalisation in Advanced Economies, chapter 3, pages 38-55, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Gregor Gall, 2009. "What is to be Done with Union Organising?," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Gregor Gall (ed.), Union Revitalisation in Advanced Economies, chapter 1, pages 1-16, Palgrave Macmillan.
    4. Miguel Martinez Lucio & Mark Stuart, 2009. "Organising and Union Modernisation: Narratives of Renewal in Britain," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Gregor Gall (ed.), Union Revitalisation in Advanced Economies, chapter 2, pages 17-37, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. Paul Nowak, 2009. "Building Stronger Unions: A Review of Organising in Britain," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Gregor Gall (ed.), Union Revitalisation in Advanced Economies, chapter 7, pages 131-153, Palgrave Macmillan.
    6. Bob Carter, 2006. "Trade union organizing and renewal," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 20(2), pages 415-426, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chris F Wright, 2013. "The response of unions to the rise of precarious work in Britain," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 24(3), pages 279-296, September.
    2. Andy Hodder & Paul Edwards, 2015. "The essence of trade unions: understanding identity, ideology and purpose," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 29(5), pages 843-854, October.
    3. Heather Connolly & Stefania Marino & Miguel Martinez Lucio, 2017. "‘Justice for Janitors’ goes Dutch: the limits and possibilities of unions’ adoption of organizing in a context of regulated social partnership," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 31(2), pages 319-335, April.
    4. Simon de Turberville, 2007. "Union organizing: a response to Carter," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 21(3), pages 565-576, September.
    5. Marek Korczynski, 2007. "Service work, social theory, and collectivism: a reply to Brook," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 21(3), pages 577-588, September.
    6. Ian Fitzgerald & Jane Hardy, 2010. "‘Thinking Outside the Box’? Trade Union Organizing Strategies and Polish Migrant Workers in the United Kingdom," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(1), pages 131-150, March.
    7. David Peetz & Barbara Pocock, 2009. "An Analysis of Workplace Representatives, Union Power and Democracy in Australia," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(4), pages 623-652, December.
    8. Jeremy Waddington & Allan Kerr, 2015. "Joining UNISON: does the reform of a union organising strategy change how members perceive their recruitment?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 187-207, May.
    9. Rosaria Burchielli & Donna Buttigieg & Annie Delaney, 2008. "Organizing homeworkers: the use of mapping as an organizing tool," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 22(1), pages 167-180, March.
    10. Davide Però, 2020. "Indie Unions, Organizing and Labour Renewal: Learning from Precarious Migrant Workers," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(5), pages 900-918, October.
    11. Alison Barnes & Nikola Balnave, 2015. "Back to grass roots: Peak union councils and community campaigning," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 26(4), pages 577-595, December.
    12. Miguel Martínez Lucio & Stefania Marino & Heather Connolly, 2017. "Organising as a strategy to reach precarious and marginalised workers. A review of debates on the role of the political dimension and the dilemmas of representation and solidarity," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 23(1), pages 31-46, February.
    13. Richard Croucher & Geoffrey Wood, 2017. "Union renewal in historical perspective," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 31(6), pages 1010-1020, December.
    14. Andrew Keyes & Zachary A Russell & Jack Fiorito, 2023. "The union experience: Workplace instrumentality, prosocial unionism, and union satisfaction," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 44(4), pages 1239-1265, November.
    15. John McIlroy, 2008. "Ten Years of New Labour: Workplace Learning, Social Partnership and Union Revitalization in Britain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 46(2), pages 283-313, June.
    16. Dave Lyddon, 2021. "Strike ballots under the 2016 Trade Union Act: Unions mobilise to counter the latest legal onslaught," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(6), pages 479-501, November.
    17. Phil James & Joanna Karmowska, 2012. "Unions and migrant workers: strategic challenges in Britain," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 18(2), pages 201-212, May.
    18. Louise Birdsell Bauer & Cynthia Cranford, 2017. "The community dimensions of union renewal: racialized and caring relations in personal support services," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 31(2), pages 302-318, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:19:y:2013:i:4:p:521-538. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.