Badgering the Union
Paul Martin examines how badges made you part of the union in 19th- and early-20th century Britain.
In June last year, a new 'super union', Unison, was created by the amalgamation of the three main public sector unions, closely following the recent amalgamation of the engineers and the electricians to form the AEEU (Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union). These measures were taken as a necessary response to industrial decline and redundancies across the board in both private and public sectors, both blue and white collar. With the increase (from the 1980s) of the single union 'sweetheart' agreements and union 'beauty contests' to court single union recognition from employers, many unions have found that their traditional area of organisation has been eroded or superseded by new technology and making employees within it eligible to join other unions.
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