The article deals with the relation between union action and the development of welfare, from the first forms of union health assistance down to the more recent changes that are affecting labour regulations. The first part reviews some of the main national experiences that accompanied the development of health assistance along with the first programmes for social protection on the cusp of the XIX and XX centuries. This means examining the expansionist period of Fordist welfare, concentrating on the forms of union involvement in the functioning of the national welfare states. The analysis continues, looking at the changes that marked the crisis of Fordist welfare and the reform processes connected with the new paradigm of active welfare. In particular, it considers the changes that concern union action in the new framework of activation processes, with reference to the practices and forms of involvement - Ghent system/bilateralism - that seem most responsive to the need to reinforce the active intervention of the unions in the labour market.only subscribers can see the full article