Getting Organised? A White Collar Union Responds to Membership Crisis

Abstract

This article examines the responses of a white-collar union to massive membership decline in the period 1996 to 2000. During this time the union’s officials attempted to adopt a new mode of operation based on the ‘organising model’. The role of the organiser was redefined, attempts were made to split the union’s ‘servicing’ and ‘organising’ functions so that more resources could be directed to organising, and an increasingly planned and evaluated approach to organising was adopted. Whilst the impact of these changes is still emerging, the article discusses the significant organisational impacts their formulation and adoption has engendered. The article suggests that although the ‘organising model’ emphasises the active participation of members in union affairs, there has been little member involvement in the change process in this union to date.