This book is a study of the relationship between full-time union officials and shop stewards across the whole of British industry (public and private, manufacturing and services) in 1986–91. It is the first major study of union officials for 20 years, and one of the most detailed studies of workplace collective bargaining and union organisation following the recession of the early 1980s. In the wake of recession, union decline, industrial restructuring, anti-union legislation, and changes in union policies (towards a new realism), Britain is said by some commentators to be entering a new era of industrial relations. This book provides a unique body of evidence that throws new light on this claim, and casts serious doubt on its validity. It combines survey, interview, questionnaire and observation data and thus overcomes the well known limitations of both large-scale surveys and individual case studies.

"John Kelley and Edmund Heery's excellent study of full-time trade union officers, Working for the Union, goes a long way....It has a clear theoretical project, it is methodologically sophisticated, and it fills a major gap in our understanding of British trade unions. It is certainly the most important book on British trade union organization....[it] provides an unparalleled picture of the work of trade union officers. But the implications of this fine study go well beyond improving our understanding of that crucial stratum of union organization, to shed light on some of the central issues in contemporary British industrial relations." Industrial and Labor Relations Review
"This book is destined to become a classic of the industrial relations literature...this book belongs on the shelf of every serious industrial relations scholar." Industrial Relations