Trade union interventions in work-life balance

Work-life balance has received increasing attention during the last decade but successful action to help employees to manage their work and non-work lives has been slow to develop and there has been a failure to translate policies into take-up. Trade union intervention might be expected to help resolve these problems but evidence on their role has been limited. The current research, based on empirical data derived from interviews with union representatives, considers the union role in the retailing and media sectors, examining their definition of and engagement with work-life balance issues and intervention strategies. It locates their approach against current discussions of the national discourse on work-life balance and trade union strategy. Although in both sectors trade union engagement with work-life balance was evident, differences could be traced to the impact of structural variables. In neither case did work-life balance, as defined by respondents, represent a common interest area with employers.