Is the decline of trade unions membership and density in advanced industrial nations a product of a disaggregating and dissolving working class?

The decline of trade union membership and density in advanced industrial nations is the result of changing political, economic, social, technological and legal factors which have caused trade unions to adapt the way they operate to represent a changing working class. The membership numbers of a trade union are not definitive of its strength, as density within the work place is what gives a union its power when negotiating. Within this essay evidence will be …

…unions operate as they look to take a more accommodative stance with government and employers. Mobilization theory believes that there has been a dramatic change in the attitudes and a decline in the collectivism that gave rise to union power. However as unions change to meet their new role of representing individuals and fighting injustice within employment in industrial relations they may find membership and density increase in accordance with an economic period of growth.