Search results

Discusses the relationship between labor union power and labor union democracy, the motives of the Left and the Right in their crusades for union democracy, and related issues; US.

Since the Webbs published Industrial Democracy at the end of the nineteenth century, the principle that workers have a legitimate voice in decision-making in the world of work – in some versions through trade unions, in others at least formally through separate representative structures – has become widely accepted in most West European countries. There is now a vast literature on the strengths and weaknesses of such mechanisms, and we review briefly some of the key interpretations of the rise (and fall) of policies and structures for workplace and board-level representation. We also discuss the mainly failed attempts to establish broader processes of economic democracy, which the eclipse of nationally specific mechanisms of class compromise makes again a salient demand. Economic globalization also highlights the need for transnational mechanisms to achieve worker voice (or more radically, control) in the dynamics of capital–labour relations. We therefore examine the role of trade unions in coordinating pressure for a countervailing force at European and global levels, and in the construction of (emergent?) supranational industrial relations. However, many would argue that unions cannot win legitimacy as a democratizing force unless manifestly democratic internally. Therefore we revisit debates on and dilemmas of democracy within trade unions, and examine recent initiatives to enhance democratization.

Discusses developments in the French labor movement in light of President Nicolas Sarkozy's expressed desire to strengthen unions. After noting that the French labor movement is one of the weakest in Europe by virtue of low membership & calling its fragmentation "legendary," why it has been, nonetheless, so effective is addressed, highlighting strong public support for strike action & high strike levels. Brief attention is given to the symbiotic state-union relationship, indicating that Sarkozy's actions are driven by the state's subtle dependence on unions. Adapted from the source document.

This past spring, French president Nicolas Sarkozy published a "point of view" article in the French newspaper Le Monde entitled "For Strong Unions." After writing of his desire to enhance the "social dialogue," he expressed his support for measures that would promote the organizational strength and legitimacy of the trade union movement. Indeed, just a week before, on April 11, five union confederations, together with the three most important employer groups in the country, announced a "common position on representivity, social dialogue and the financing of the trade union movement." The agreement, by requiring a minimum threshold of electoral support in certain "social elections" (for shop stewards and plant committees, for example), would give legal standing to only the largest confederations; it would also require that collective agreements on wages and working conditions be signed by these same unions in order to be valid.