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.

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. Throughout much of Western Europe, trade union membership is declining.Nowhere is this decline more marked than among young workers. As a consequence, the average age of trade unionists is rising, and differences between trade unionists and young workers in perception, culture and identity are widening. This 'dangerous gulf' is portrayed by senior trade unionists as bringing into question the future of trade union movements, which are dependent for renewal on the recruitment of young workers (Morris, 1986). This paper examines the linkages between young workers and trade unions in Britain by reference to survey results. It addresses the policy implications of these linkages, or their absence, and the competing explanations advanced to explain the current decline in unionisation among young workers. The paper argues that there is little ideological opposition to trade unionism among young people, but the impact of employer resistance to unions and union inefficiencies are more influential in accounting for the failure to recruit more young workers.A recent review of unionisation among young people in Western Europe showed that rates of unionisation among young people are lower than among their older counterparts and that the rate of unionisation for young people is declining more steeply than among older workers (Serrano Pascual and Waddington, 2000).

This article reviews the contradictory evidence on union revitalization in Britain. It examines organizing, partnership proposals, relations between unions and the Labour Party, international activities and union restructuring. Although policies and strategies in these different areas are mixed and uneven in effect, the increased resources devoted to organizing and the impact of the Employment Relations Act appear to have underpinned the limited elements of revival that are in evidence.

Drawing on questionnaire‐based survey data and web‐based data, this article examines the introduction of virtual branch websites within 12 branches of UNISON. The article situates e‐communications within a union communications strategy from the perspective of union members and shows how the virtual branch websites contribute to aspects of union renewal including organization and participation, union democracy and the conduct of industrial disputes.