Trade Union Strategies and the Enterprise Culture in Britain

Abstract

Trade union elites in Britain found their organizations scorned, isolated and embattled in the 1980s. The combined impact of mass unemployment, the policies of the Thatcher government, and global capitalist restructuring had a profound impact on the position of trade unions both in the workplace and in the wider society. The effort of the Thatcher government to implant an "enterprise culture" led to the expulsion of union elites from the policy-making process. At the same time, underlying schisms within the union movement were intensified as alternative approaches emerged in response to the impasse of labourist strategies.