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Declining union density in Australia and Britain has focused attention on the need for union reorganization. This article examines how the development of closed shops in the two countries influenced member exit rates and the internal union relations now affecting union renewal. Findings show that legislative support for the Australian closed shop tended to foster more union dependency on state and employers, union bureaucratization, less active stewards and more dissatisfied members than in Britain. The subsequent outlawing of the Australian closed shop and increasing employer hostility resulted in higher levels of density decline than in Britain. While the greater resilience of British density supports the case for developing strong workplace unionism, the relative bureaucratization of Australian unions within an increasingly antagonistic context, against the British situation of relatively indifferent employers and steward independence, limits the transferability of strategies designed to achieve union renewal.

Purpose -This paper aims to explore the rationale underpinning the national development of UNISON's organising strategy and its implementation at regional and branch levels. Design/methodology/approach -The author used non-participant observation case studies in three National Health Service (NHS) UNISON branches of 92, 49 and 17 per cent density and 45 interviews with non-members, members, branch activists (key-stewards and stewards), full-time officers and managers. Findings -UNISON aimed to devolve financial resources to branches whilst encouraging participation supported by training and increased in-fill recruitment. Initial regional support diminished because of managerial opposition. Individual attempts by regional staff to resurrect the strategy met with significant resistance within branches as key-stewards regarded it as largely inappropriate. Research limitations/implications -Concentration on a single union region, which experienced specific problems, could exaggerate poor articulation of strategy. Small numbers of interviews with full-time officers may ignore alternative viewpoints within the national and regional levels. Originality/value -Rather than using the union organising model as a yardstick against which to measure the impact of change, this work examines the incremental development of national strategy and explores the problems of implementation throughout the union to branch level.

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