Union Renewal and the Organizing Model in the United Kingdom

This paper summarizes research that focuses on the process of "union renewal " currently underway in many unions. The research is based on survey responses and interviews involving United Kingdom (U.K.) union officers and staff and uses information gathered dur-ing late 2000 and early 2001. This paper also addresses the related issue of "organizing model " adoption in the United Kingdom. Most U.K. unionists see organizing the unorganized as a critical aspect of union renewal, but many are skeptical about the value of the organizing model as a guiding philosophy or model. Most of them are, however, optimistic about their unions ’ futures, especially when they see their leadership committed to organizing and union re-newal. Conversely, where pessimism exists, leadership is often cited as a key problem. A final section of the paper considers the find-ings in relation to alternative theoretical perspectives on unions. mong advanced industrial democracies, union decline has been most pronounce in the United States. Between the 1950s and 2000, union density (percent organized) fell from roughly one-third of the workforce to about one-seventh (Freeman and Medoff 1984; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2001). While the degree of decline has been mor