The prototype linear spin-up problem consisting of a homogeneous viscous electrically conducting fluid confined between two infinite flat rotating electrically conducting plates in the presence of an applied axial magnetic field is studied in an effort to understand better the strength and nature of the coupling between a fluid and its rotating conducting container. It is assumed that the response time of the bounding plates to a magnetic perturbation is much less than the fluid spin-up time and that the plate conductivity is an arbitrary function of distance from the fluid-plate interface. The general Laplace transform solution is inverted and discussed for three special cases: magnetic diffusion regions thick compared with fluid depth during spin-up, arbitrary magnetic field strength and boundary conductance; magnetic diffusion regions thin, weak conductance, arbitrary field; magnetic diffusion regions thin, strong conductance, arbitrary field. In each case conductance of the boundary strengthens the coupling between fluid and boundary, thereby decreasing the spin-up time. The corresponding single plate analysis of Loper (1970a) is found to predict spin-up accurately only if the boundary conductance is much smaller than that of the fluid. The fluid possesses an oscillatory mode of spin-up if the magnetic diffusion regions are thin and boundary conductance is large. That is, the inviscid current-free core of fluid rotates significantly faster than the boundaries during a portion of the spin-up process.