Industrial Relations Journal 33:2 ISSN 0019-8692 The dynamics of positive action in UK trade unions: the case of women and black members Gill Kirton and Anne-marie Greene This paper considers positive action strategies amongst UK trade unions, aimed at increasing membership and levels of participation and representation among women and black workers. It provides an overview of women’s, black members’ and race structures within large Trades Union Congress unions and a detailed case study of one large UK trade union. We find that there are salient differences in the way that unions approach issues of gender equality, compared with the approach adopted towards race equality. The paper explores possible explanations, justifications and implications of these differences. Introduction The institutionalised sexism and racism of the labour market are reflected in sexual and racial inequalities within the internal life of trade unions in the sense that British trade union decision-making structures remain dominated by white men (Dickens, 1997; Labour Research, 1998). This is problematic for two reasons. First, it has been posited elsewhere that union renewal is dependent upon broadening the unions’ traditional recruitment areas (see, for example, Howell, 1996; TUC, 1997) and attracting a more diverse workforce into membership (Labour Research, 1996a). However, there is thought to be a link between the unrepresentative nature of trade union structures and the unions’ historical relative lack of success in organising ❒ Gill Kirton is Senior Lecturer in the Business School at the University of North London, and Anne- marie Greene is Lecturer in the Business School at Warwick University.  Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2002, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main St., Malden, MA 02148, USA. The dynamics of positive action in UK trade unions 157