Trade unionism is a phenomenon that has had a huge impact on the working lives of millions of people across the globe over many years. Current research demonstrates that membership of trade unions is on the decline in many countries, including South Africa. Numerous reasons have been put forward to explain the challenges faced by the trade union movement, which led to the reported decline in their membership. However, there is insufficient research about employee attitudes towards trade union effectiveness in rendering services to their members (Frangi & Barisone, 2015; Givan & Hipp, 2012). This study investigates the perceptions of u