Profiles of union workplace representatives : evidence from three unions in SW England

As part of a larger research project the authors are examining union responses to workplace and corporate organisational change in the South West of England. This study has concentrated on three unions, the MSF, GMB and AEEU, and has comprised over 100 interviews of workplace representatives from the three unions conducted between 1998 and 2000 throughout the region across a representative range of industrial sectors. A complement to this qualitative research has been analysis of 356 questionnaire returns, concentrating on workplace union changes as well as profiles of the representatives and stewards themselves. Of particular interest have been the personal profiles of workplace representatives and their interaction with members. It is this data which is presented with some commentary in this Research Note