AbstractThis paper provides evidence from empirical case‐study research into the impact of compulsory competitive tendering on workplace union organization among the baggage‐handling workforce at Manchester Airport. It documents the main processes of development within an historical context, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of workplace unionism during the 1980s, the recent challenge posed by managerial restructuring in the early 1990s, and the wider implications for debates about the ‘state’ of workplace unionism in Britain today.Compared with the union resilience displayed by the baggage handlers during the 1980s, the nature of shop‐stewards' organization appears to have changed drastically to managemenťs advantage during the last few years. However, continuing underlying tensions in worker‐management relations suggest that this situation may not necessarily amount to a fundamental and irreversible transformation in the nature of workplace unionism in the manner in which those who use the vocabulary of the ‘New Industrial Relations