150 years of the Trades Union Congress – reflections on the past and challenges for the future

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to look back on 150 years of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and reflect on the recent challenges to organised labour. Design/methodology/approach Places unions in their current context and discusses how they have responded to the challenge of declining membership. Findings With declining membership levels and the lack of a “silver bullet” solution, unions continue to face many challenges, although there is some light at the end of the organising tunnel. Originality/value This paper introduces the special issue which reflects on 150 years of the TUC.