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...

Over the last three decades trade unions in almost all European countries have been losing members. In particular non-standard workers (part-time employed, temporary employed and own- account self-employed) are currently less likely than those on standard contracts to be organised in unions. The...