Manufacturing, Science

• Even if the vacillating fortunes of the Labour Party eventually result in a victory at the next General Election, it is clear that the complex of problems faced by the trade union movement would not simply disappear. Labour has promised only a partial repeal of the restrictive legal framework established by the Conservatives and the distancing of the Party from the unions is likely to continue. Unions are unlikely to regain the political primacy of the Social Contract years. Moreover, the structural changes in the economy, which are arguably more important factors in the loss of membership and the decline of influence of the unions than who governs in the political sphere, are unlikely to halt, let alone reverse. The pressure on unions to react to the changes in the economy and to continue the process of self examination which was begun under the Thatcher years will therefore continue. A number of options have been considered by unions to arrest these processes. One of these is to recognise the changes occurring in the labour market and to address them by concentrating more effort on the recruitment of part-time 35 Carter discusses the origins of and processes involved in the making of MSF. The politics of the merger between ASTMS and TASS which created MSF have had a lasting influ-ence on the new union