From reassurance to radicalism

Challenges facing trade unions in Labour's second term

Unions 21, 6 Cynthia Street, London N1 9JF, 20 pages, A4 size, £5.00 inc. p&p

The title of this pamphlet comes from a pre-election plea from TUC general secretary John Monks for the Labour government to move into a more radical phase.

However, the main thrust of this publication is to encourage trade unions to adopt a modernised approach, both to their structures and to the way they present themselves to potential new members.

It contains statistics about the unionisation of the workforce, noting that "there is a high risk that without a change in strategy trade unions will become a largely public sector phenomenon".

And new focus group research on non-members' attitudes to unions provides more evidence of an image problem for the movement.

Appropriately, then, the booklet concludes with a chapter called "Ten ideas for a better movement", including a number of suggestions which are certainly worth further consideration.