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This book is dedicated to the memory of Blanche and Martin Flannery. They devoted their lives to socialism and the Labour and Trade Union movement. The world is a much poorer place without their unstinting dedication to fighting injustice in all its forms.
List of tables and box
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This historic legacy of the construction of the UK welfare settlement is important in terms of framing the social divisions and struggles over welfare. As Williams (1994) emphasises, the link between family, work and nation must be understood in relation to a diversity of social divisions – not only gender but also ethnicity, and class (although disability, sexual orientation and age can also be included). Such struggles are influenced ‘not only by class relations but also, relatedly, by the relations of other forms of social power – racism, nationalism, male domination and so on – which influence both the demands of the working class and the response of capital and the state’ (Williams, 1994: 60). In this way, I assert that the nature of oppressions (and the ‘class struggle’) must be related to the concrete experiences of social life within capitalism (Lavalette and Mooney, 2000: 8).
Trade unions are important ‘actors’ or source of agency in the class struggle as they act as a fulcrum for solidarity within the workplace (and reduce competition within the labour market); they also articulate worker resistance and negotiation around the employment relationship (Hyman, 1989: 36). Although trade unions developed through struggles around workplace issues, they have also pursued concerns relating to social reproduction, and social and welfare policy. As Fine states, trade unions will:
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