ABSTRACT
Many research tools have been used: interviews with managers and with union leaders; analysis of union documentation and publications; observation of the plants and some participant observation in unions' meetings and demonstrations. The main criterion in the selection of the cases, trade unions, and people, was 'theoretical relevance' as defined by 'grounded theory'. The different types depend on the different sets of experiences significant for the trade unions: work relations, political struggle, and local community. This classification is far from exhaustive in its account of the features of trade union activity. There are qualitative traditions dealing with topics that, even if slightly different from the sociology of trade unionism, are connected with the same field. Italy and Poland make useful subjects for an inquiry into the role of the East-West cleavage in the transformation of trade union consciousness. There are several approaches to comparison in the study of trade unionism. Maurice distinguishes three broad approaches: functionalist, cross-cultural and societal.
