Rebooting the rank and file: why there’s still hope for the unions

Richard Williams has a story like many others in Britain’s post-crash economy. He’s a young self-described “creative” trying to make his way working for himself. Based in his native South Wales he talks with a quiet resolve about how he’s striving to build a business designing marketing material for housing companies.

His tale is, however, exceptional in one regard: he’s recently joined a trade union. Previously he had no links to…