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Unions fit for young workers?
Author(s) -
Waddington Jeremy,
Kerr Allan
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
industrial relations journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.525
H-Index - 3
eISSN - 1468-2338
pISSN - 0019-8692
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2338.00237
Subject(s) - opposition (politics) , trade union , economics , labour economics , resistance (ecology) , demographic economics , political science , law , politics , ecology , biology
If trade unions are to reverse the membership decline sustained since 1979, more young workers must be recruited. This paper examines the views of young workers towards trade unions by reference to survey data. It argues that there is little evidence of a ‘Thatcher’s children’ effect in which principled opposition to trade unionism is widespread. Instead the paper shows that shifts in the labour market, the effects of employer resistance to trade unionism and union inefficiencies have a marked effect on the unionisation of young workers.