ABSTRACT
The concept of political trade unionism integral to post-war British politics is under attack from a government which has successfully set the agenda for union reform. New Realism and the government’s union reform programme have their genesis in a number of major discontents amongst union members which have been ignored by most union leaderships. The changing composition of the TUC consequent on the rise of white-collar unions and the impact of recession on the traditionally dominant blue-collar unions poses a serious threat to the trade union-Labour Party link. The General Council, however, believed auto-maticity would enhance neither the TUC’s representativeness nor authority. The victory of automaticity at the 1982 TUC was a significant political change. In the past many white-collar unions opposed affiliation to the TUC because that implied a political statement and because of the dominance of manual unions.
