Nurses: RCN or Union Membership?

The reasons which influence any individual to choose one union over another in a situation where both have recruited members and obtained bargaining rights are investigated in a questionnaire‐based study conducted in three Scottish psychiatric establishments. Two views of why an individual nurse joins the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) as opposed to the Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE) or the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) or vice versa are given. In the first view the key influences are seen to be the personal values that individuals bring into the workplace. The second view stresses the influence of the historical patterns of organisations in the different parts of the nursing service.