Self-Organization and Trade Union Democracy

Abstract

This article is an offshoot of a three year study into the self-organized groups for women, black members, disabled members and lesbians and gay men which have been enshrined in the constitution of the UK's public sector union UNISON. The argument is that self-organization has become a significant axis around which trade union democracy is being reconstituted in the late twentieth century. However, our understanding of this phenomenon has been obscured by the ascendancy of mainstream union perspectives over self-organized perspectives, which has unfortunately been compounded by academic researchers. A re-conceptualization of selforganization proceeds in three stages. First, it is contextualized politically and theoretically in terms of trade union histories, new social movements and models of a diversified democratic polity. Second, it is re-signified by attending to its actual unfolding over the past two decades and the self-understandings of its activists. Third, is problematized with reference to exogenous pressures towards bureaucracy and oligarchy, and endogenous pressures towards essentialisms and exclusions.

Possibilities for remote participation in trade unions: mobilising women activists

“…However, as Young (2000) indicates, despite being formally included some people find that their views are not listened to or taken seriously. In the trade union context certain social groups including women, ethnic minorities, disabled people and lesbians and gay men have complained of internal exclusion (see for example Kirton and Healy, 1999;Colgan, 1999;Humphrey, 2000). The processes of exclusion are often enacted by majority groups by virtue of their greater knowledge of union jargon, procedures and rule books.…”

“…Union officers and representatives have been criticised for failing to respond to the concerns of women, black workers and other groups of 'atypical members', including part-time, temporary, disabled and lesbian and gay workers (e.g. Humphrey, 2000). As previously marginalised groups have become more vocal in their unions, it has become increasingly untenable for union structures to remain unrepresentative of the membership and at the same time for unions to claim to be democratic organisations.…”

Privatization as the Source of Organizational Change in the Israeli Labor Federation (the Histadrut): an Israeli Case Study

“…The present case study reveals processes similar to those in other trade unions worldwide, as a result of downsizing (Dolvik and Waddington, 2004;Humphrey, 2000;Voss and Sherman, 2000;Rainnie, 2006) and decline, but this case study is unique and different from those of other unions because of the leader's attitude: Ramon acted against the interests of his own union members and identified with privatization. The old organization and its leaders ignored the changes and did not implement the necessary steps, causing the organization to eventually collapse (Greenberg, 2004).…”

Bonding by doing : the dynamics of self-organizing groups of citizens taking charge of their living environment

“…The notion of active citizenship comprises on the one hand the established trend toward citizens' participation in which governments and other organizations seek to involve citizens in 'their' work Irvin and Stansbury 2004;Edelenbos 2005). And on the other hand there is a clearly discernible rise in the number of citizens' initiatives, in which assertive citizens proactively go into concerted action in a range of fields within the public domain (Humphrey 2001, Bovaird 2007, Van Assche 2008. Governments encourage this trend toward citizens' initiatives, because it is believed to make society stronger by getting more people working together and putting more power and responsibility into the hands of families, groups, networks, neighborhoods and locally based communities.…”