The purpose of this book is to take a fresh look at trade unions by focusing upon their identities and exploring what in this work is termed ‘niche unionism’. While media and politicians frequently refer to the unions as if they were homogeneous, even the most rudimentary exploration of union names reveals that they project an extremely diverse range of identities. Although UK trade union membership decline has largely halted over recent years, unions seem to be making limited progress in recruiting beyond their traditional membership territories. While new and existing unions are making some inroads into the problem of organizing the unorganized, UK unions’ age profile shows a preponderance of older members, leaving the vast majority of younger workers unorganized (BEIS, 2019), and raising important issues for union organization (Tailby and Pollert, 2011; Hodder, 2015). The result is that more than three-quarters of UK workers are unrepresented and, for the most part, UK unions remain cornered within relatively secure niches within the labour market. This then raises questions as to the relative effectiveness of contemporary union identities in helping to reverse union fortunes by organizing the unorganized.

Despite considerable discussion of union decline and renewal in recent decades (Blanchflower and Bryson, 2009; Brown et al, 2009; Simms and Charlwood, 2010; Simms et al, 2013; Simms et al, 2019), there has been relatively little consideration of contemporary union identities (Hyman, 1994, 2001; Hodder and Edwards, 2015). This book argues that the extant industrial relations literature is inadequate and introduces a new approach to understanding individual union identities based upon the systematic observation and analysis of the characteristics through which unions project their identities in the public domain. The discussion also draws upon literature from intellectual traditions beyond the field of industrial relations, including organizational identity theory and marketing, where these are seen to inform the understanding of union identities and the significance of niche identity to trade unions. In doing so the work recognizes that trade unions are in essence organizations that can be seen as having much in common with other forms of organization, both in relation to projecting organizational identities and, in the majority of cases, projecting niche identities.