Trade union merger strategies

Purpose, process and performance

Roger Undy, Oxford University Press, 295 pages, hardback, £50

As the giant merger of the T&G and Amicus unions edges forward, albeit slower than planned, (see Union News) this timely book gives an in-depth analysis of union mergers in the UK over the last 30 years.

Oxford academic Roger Undy looks at what effect mergers have on unions and how these mergers affect the wider union movement. Information is based on 20 years’ worth of surveys, interviews and research.

Undy begins his analysis in 1978 — the time when union numbers began to decline. The book makes a point of explaining the changing and increasingly hostile political climate in which many of these mergers were forced to take place.

He explores the different motivations behind union mergers, and why some unions have chosen to merge while others choose to retrench rather that become part of a larger organisation. He then devotes a section to the negotiation process and the bargaining power of the unions involved.

Finally and probably of most interest is the section “Mergers: good or bad for unions?” which reports on how the merged unions perform and whether they have contributed to any revitalisation of the movement.

It is at times a dry read but provides valuable insights into union reform and more broadly how unions have adapted to a changing economic and political context.