Research Paper on:
Germany and United Kingdom Trade Union Membership

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
of the unions have been influenced by social and political situations and actions. If we compare tow countries that both have a string trade union history we can see how  the political and social have resulted in different me membership levels. The two countries we will consider are both within the European Union and both have a history of capitalism,  but the pattern are very different. Union Membership reached it peak in the United Kingdom during the 1970s. Labour governments and the laws had created a solid foundation  for the unions. However, the activities and laws had created a situation where the unions were usually in conflict with employers. This was a very adversarial model that had been  in place since the beginning of the century and followed on from the social structures and an us and them attitude. The structure and membership of unions was  not to remain this high with this form of collectivism coming under political attack during the 1970s. Unions and collective organisations have served multifaceted purposes in the workplace in the  past, they have given power to the employees and acted as a social coherent (Kessler-Harris, 1987). Collective solutions used to be sought  with agreement from unions, and collectivism can be seen as having positive influences in many instances, for example; better working conditions at the beginning of the twentieth century as well  as many of the social reforms of the century before (Kessler-Harris, 1987). The perspective of these unions was that everyone could be seen as equal, all with an equal  chance to participate in the democratic process and have their voice heard, which accounts for their initial popularity. The change has occurred due