Drawing on a large survey of new members, this paper examines the reasons why people join unions and the methods of their recruitment. It shows that collective reasons remain central to union membership and that individual services are secondary in the recruitment process. While there is little variation in reasons for joining across industry, occupation and sex, there are marked differences in the methods used to recruit new members. These findings are used to examine existing explanations of membership decline and to assess the efficacy of the different recruitment policy options available to unions.

The operation of discipline in the workplace has received little attention in sociology; the control of attendance has attracted even less. Yet they have taken on a growing significance in many firms, and help to throw light on more general issues of new forms of the control of labour. Material from two case studies is used to show why firms are changing their policies and to explore the effect on workplace relations. Disciplinary regimes have been tightened and, although the direct impact on workers has been limited, the symbolic effects of closer managerial attention to individual workers' behaviour are considerable.

There has beeri considerable debute US to whether levels of worker effort rose in Britain during the 1980s. Cuse-study eviderice from four organizations suggests that effort levels did indeed increase. The extent to which workers were aware of this was, however, moderated by the limited extent of the change, by the fact that it was sometimes accompanied by other changes, and by the recruitment of new workers. Future reseurch should investigate in more detail the components of effort, workers' view on why effort levels have changed, arid munageriul interpretations.

Absence studies often pay little attention to institutional settings. This study of a large hospital looks at factors affecting absence, and worker attitudes to time off. It reveals a highly committed workforce, but one with low morale, deeply distrustful of a management initiating rapid changes.

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