Female Part--time Workers and Trade Union Membership: A Case Study in the Retail Industry

This paper discusses the reasons which can be offered for the lower trade union membership rates of female part-time workers in the UK and focuses in particular on female part-timers' attitudes to trade unions. The findings are based on original research: 50 qualitative interviews with female part-time workers in the retail industry. The paper argues that female part-timers are supportive of the aims of the trade union movement and questions the extent to which their attitudes differ from the rest of the working population. It concludes that an integrated approach is necessary in order to understand part-timers' unionization rates, including structural factors, the approach which trade unions have taken towards part-time workers and attitudes towards trade unions.