The aim of the paper is to take a closer look behind the curtain of low aggregate trade union densities in retail and to outline the major obstacles and problems trade union organising faces in the retail trades. Trade union organising and recruitment is analysed against the background of a 'two...

Are strikes going out of fashion or are they an inevitable feature of working life? This is a longstanding debate. The much-proclaimed 'withering away of the strike' in the 1950s was quickly overturned by the 'resurgence of class conflict' in the late 1960s and 1970s. The period since then has...