| Abstract: | Post-War trade union membership developments have received relatively little academic attention, in view of the importance attributed to trades union organization in the collective bargaining system, in the social, political and economic fields, in the relationships between organized labour and governments and, in particular, in the efforts to devise institutional arrangements suitable for dealing with wage-price inflation. Union membership levels, the effective power of central federations and some of their individual affiliates, shifts in membership and the often concomitant changes in the political status of a union or unions and the degree of organization of a nation's labour force—are all important aspects of the potential role of trade union movements within the socio-economic and political life of a nation. The objects of this paper are to examine membership levels and changes, density of organization, membership concentration and the membership experiences of the six largest unions within the trades union movements of Austria, Denmark, Germany (Federal Republic), Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom over the postwar period. |
