This volume offers eight essays dealing with union politics in North America and Western Europe in the period since the mid-1970s. They specify the problems confronting organized labor since that time and explore the ways in which unions have responded. Most of the authors explicitly engage in cross-national comparisons, seeking to explain why unions have adopted different strategies, and/or why some labor movements have been more successful than others in meeting the challenges of the 1980s.The essays deal with experiences in North America as well as Western Europe and cover a wide range of issues, grouped under three headings: 1) coordination of wage bargaining at the national level; 2) restructuring of industrial sectors; and 3) changes in the organization of production at the firm level. Most of the contributors focus on particular unions or sectors (rather than "confederal" union organizations) and emphasize the political nature of the process by which unions define workers' interests and mobilize their workers. The introductory essay sets out an analytical framework for studying union politics comparatively and presents some of the basic concepts that recur throughout the book. The conclusion summarizes the findings of the substantive essays and locates them in relation to existing literature on union politics.The work of a group of talented and increasingly recognized political scientists, Bargaining for Change will enjoy a reputation for being at the "cutting edge" of labor studies in the context of political development.