 However, a succession of poor harvests weakened the union's position, and membership fell below 10,000 in 1887, then halved again that year; the few remaining members were concentrated in Eastern England.Industrially weak, the union turned its attention to campaigning for an extension of the electoral franchise to all adult men, and providing sickness and funeral benefits to members.In 1890, Arch began a new recruitment campaign; many workers were inspired by the London Dock strike of 1889, and membership again rose above 15,000, two-thirds of them in Norfolk.