Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Advocate Or Adversary: The Declining Membership Of Young People In Unions, Dave Palmer

Theses : Honours

Recent figures show that participation of young workers between the ages of 15-24 in trade unions is by far the lowest of all age groups. Of 1.5 million young workers in this age category only one third are unionised. Not only is membership low but it is also fast declining. While there has been some discussion and debate over the reasons for this decline, few of the more popular explanations have been comprehensively and critically examined. These explanations include: i) dramatic changes in the world of work over the past twenty years ii) poor images of unions and a lack …