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Book Review
| Mark Harcourt and Geoffrey Wood (eds), Trade Unions and Democracy: Strategies and Perspectives, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, 2007. pp. x + 422. US $39.95 paper.
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| This collection of essays, according to the editors, seeks 'to explore the role of trade unions as products of, and agents for democracy' (p. 1). It consists of 17 chapters, and is divided into seven themes, which range from theoretical approaches through to empirical studies of unions in emerging economies. The editors draw attention in the introductory chapter to the dual issues debated when considering unions and democracy – the role of unions in promoting democracy within the wider society, and the tensions which may arise between union internal democratic processes and strategic alliances with external parties. |
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The first of the thematic sections is trade unions and the crisis of democracy. Wood introduces this section with an overview of unions and theories of democracy, traversing developments from the rational choice tradition through to contemporary institutionalist accounts, including a justification for community unionism based upon democratic processes being overshadowed by corporate influence. In his chapter comparing neo-liberal reforms and accords, Harcourt finds in favour of accord economic systems from the perspective of both socio-economic outcomes and democratic processes. Neo-corporatism, he asserts, is inherently democratic. Australian readers with memories of the neo-corporatist experiment in Australia might wonder at the largely unquestioned way in which this assertion is made. Later chapters offer a more critical analysis. Section two, titled 'Unionisation in a fragmented world: organising non-traditional constituencies' includes a chapter by James on union strategies to recruit non-standard employees in Great Britain. Most of the strategies reviewed have a more generalist application and, as James points out, evidence of their effectiveness in relation to non-standard employment is scant. Webster, on the other hand, presents an enlivened discussion and analysis of a women's organisation in South Africa which has successfully organised street traders and homeworkers otherwise beyond the sphere of more traditional industrial based unions. Webster's analysis illustrates the importance of such organisation to wider democratic processes, whilst offering a cautious forecast of the potential for such organisation to be sustained unless drawn into the broader labour movement. |
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Section three looks at the changing impact and strength of the labour movement in advanced societies. These chapters offer well-developed and articulated analyses of union responses to declining membership in a number of countries. Rigby, Smith and Brewster draw together data on a range of measures on the changing impact of unions, such collective bargaining coverage and works council representation in the European Union (EU). They highlight the importance of EU institutions to the on-going defence of unions and their continuing role in social dialogue, whilst also acknowledging this strength is limited to areas of traditional union coverage. This, they argue, may ultimately be a source of weakness as institutional security is sought at the expense of achievements at the shop floor level and resources focused upon recruiting new members. Godard's critical analysis of explanations for union decline, based upon a comparative analysis of Canada and the United States (US), challenges market explanations of union decline, preferring instead explanations centred on the role of the state intertwined with societal explanations. He posits a choice of union strategies to counter the decline, but is sceptical about most. Hird takes the analysis a step further with an account of the history of the organising model in the USA, and a critique of its effectiveness. He presents a bleak picture that encompasses inherent problems with the model, including dysfunctional recruitment strategies in response to numeric membership goals. Like other writers in this collection, he calls for the development of more diversity and experimentation in representation models. A common theme in this section is the need for the labour movement to reassess contemporary approaches to unionism in order to revitalise and grow union membership. The links with democracy are implied rather than discussed; the exclusion of large sections of the workforce from contemporary union activities is clearly spelt out. |
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In the fourth section, the changing impact and strength of the labour movements in emerging economies is explored through case studies on South Korea (Peetz and Ollett), South Africa and Zimbabwe (Whitely). Both chapters offer a more optimistic analysis of the potential for union expansion and influence than the chapters on unions in advanced societies. The first critiques strategies adopted by South Korean unions towards peripheral employment, and outlines the subsequent growth of women's unions. Whilst regarded as unsustainable in their own right, the emerging pressures from women's unions are thought to offer the prospect of forcing a rethink within mainstream unions which may ultimately lead to more effective representation of peripheral workers. Whitely likewise sees scope for unions to continue on a growth path supported in South Africa by recent memories of mobilisation, and in Zimbabwe by activism at both the shopfloor and in national politics. But he also cautions that both countries' union movements have yet to mobilise informal workers. In this respect, these union movements are constrained by the lack of inclusiveness which bedevils unions in advanced economies. |
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The fifth section covers political engagement and social movement unionism. James explores the declining formal and informal links between unions and political parties, drawing mostly upon the US example. Dibben questions the sustainability of social movement unionism, based upon examples from South Africa, Brazil and the USA. Both chapters are relatively short, understating the importance of these issues in a collection of this type. The only section to explicitly address the issue of internal union democracy is section six, and this consists of one chapter. Here, Flynn, Brewster, Smith and Rigby analyse union internal democracy from the perspective of actions taken by British unions to encourage greater engagement with minority groups. They integrate theory with empirical evidence to provide a thoughtful analysis of the potential of such strategies to help increase union membership. |
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Section seven returns to the earlier theme of union partnership arrangements and strategic alternatives. Mellahi and Wood bring a different perspective with the concept of business systems – distinguishing between countries with compartmentalised and collaborative business systems. Their focus is primarily upon partnerships at firm level, contrasting recent US and UK experiences. Neither, they suggest, offer substantial prospects for broadening workplace democracy. Their analysis provides a springboard for the next chapter by Wood which focuses upon alternative approaches which unions could adopt, specifically a new form of 'radical engagement' involving new alliances between unions, social movements and grass-root organisations. The multi-faceted nature of capitalism, he argues, requires a multi-level response for unions to achieve improvements in quality of working life and social change. |
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That the majority of chapters in this collection explore union responses to declining union membership is both a strength and a weakness of this book. Some chapters revisit well-trodden ground, others offer critical and thoughtful ideas. Few chapters, however, draw links to the theories of democracy outlined in the second chapter nor explicitly address the question of unions and democracy, contributing to a lack of coherence across the collection. The concluding chapter develops an argument for empowered participatory governance based on the concepts of Archon Fung and Erik Wright ('Thinking about empowered participatory governance' in the book they edit, Deepening Democracy: Institutional Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance, Verso, London, 2003). Whilst interesting in itself, the diversity of issues raised across the chapters lent itself to the need for a concluding chapter which drew together and built upon this diversity. In this respect, the editors passed up the opportunity to further develop the links which they sought to explore in their collection. |
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| Deakin University |
ELSA UNDERHILL | |
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