Trade union membership retention and workplace representation in Europe

Based on a comparative survey of members of fourteen European trade unions in twelve countries, this working paper tries to answer the questions why people retain their trade union membership in times of declining unionisation. The paper shows that the presence and performance of workplace representatives are the main reasons for member retention throughout Europe. The author concludes that the presence of workplace representation is a prerequisite for any form of trade union renewal and draws other political recommendations from this study.