AMONG THE ASHES - TRADE-UNION STRATEGIES IN THE UK AND GERMAN STEEL INDUSTRIES

The trade unions in the steel industry have faced two waves of restruc turing, the first centring on closures, capacity reductions and mass r edundancies, the second involving fundamental changes to patterns of w ork organization, labour utilization and industrial relations. overall , the trade unions involved have failed to develop an adequate respons e to management-led change, relying instead on traditional methods and fines of interest representation. The challenges embodied in such dev elopments as teamworking and craft restructuring ave considered, toget her with union responses and the structural and ideological constraint s on those responses. Contrasts are drawn with more successful union i nvolvement in comparable changes in the German steel industry. In the conclusion, the authors review the dilemmas facing the UK unions in th e steel industry and the main areas for a new agenda.