The Political Representation of the Labour Interest in Britain

Ludlam, Steve; Taylor, Andrew J.

doi:10.1046/j.1467-8543.2003.00296.x

Cited by 39 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Indeed, the reduction in the number of unions affiliated to Labour, and the party's current domination by a small number of 'super-unions' make the structure of the electoral college an acute problem for the Labour party. Union leaders have arguably become more assertive over the last decade or so and Labour has become more reliant on its affiliates for funding in recent years (see, for example, Quinn, 2010 andLudlam andTaylor, 2010). Schattschneider's judgement of 1941 remains relevant: 'The nominating process has become the crucial process of the party.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reinventing the block vote? Trade unions and the 2010 Labour party leadership election

Jobson

Wickham‐Jones

2011

Br Polit

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Labour's electoral college chose Ed Miliband as the party's new leader on the basis of votes that were influenced by trade union activities. Some trade unions made a number of decisive interventions in the 2010 leadership election contest: they coordinated their nominations, canvassed intensely for their nominees (channelling considerable resources into their campaigns), and distributed ballots with strong recommendations in the same package as the voting slips. Such was the closeness of the election that, we argue, these interventions determined the result. This conclusion is all the more surprising since commentators and academics alike had maintained that the introduction of 'one member, one vote' had fundamentally reduced the role of trade unions in Labour party politics. In contrast, our opinion is that having been apparently deprived of control by the introduction of one member one vote, trade union elites developed a strategy to mould the outcome of the Labour leadership contest and so reassert their traditional influence over the party. Such was the extent of the role played by the trade unions that, we believe, the normative legitimacy of the electoral process by which Ed Miliband was elected can be called into question although the rules of the contest were not broken.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reinventing the block vote? Trade unions and the 2010 Labour party leadership election

Jobson

Wickham‐Jones

2011

Br Polit

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“…At these sites, conventional party politics and the link between unions and traditional leftwing parties are less apparent. New forms of union action, founded on coalition, may prove to be more effective above and below the nation state (Ludlam and Taylor 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The New Solidarity? Trade Union Coalition-Building in Five Countries

Frege¹,

Heery²,

Turner³

2004

Varieties of Unionism

110

109

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Abstract[Excerpt] The purpose of this chapter is to present a framework for the analysis of union coalition-building and demonstrate its utility using comparative empirical material mainly from the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom though we also comment on union action in Italy and Spain. In what follows, we seek to define union-coalitions and specify their functions, identify a variety of types of coalition and the variety of factors that encourage unions to forge coalitions. We then set out and seek to explain the variable patterns of coalition use across our five countries. The chapter concludes in speculative vein, by considering the role that coalition building should and could play in the revitalization of national labour movements.

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“…A campaign for internal party reform is evidenced by motions criticizing the government's position at Labour and TUC conferences and by attempts to coordinate protest among unions on a factional basis (Ludlam and Taylor 2003). As with any Upchurch et al / The Crisis of "Social Democratic" Unionism 527 factional campaign, the logical outcome is to reconstruct Labour with a new leadership, in this case, openly sympathetic to the positions held by these unions.…”

Section: Britainmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Crisis of “Social Democratic” Unionism

Upchurch¹,

Taylor

Mathers

2008

Labor Studies Journal

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This article defines and explores the crisis of social democratic trade unionism in three countries in western Europe. The authors contend that a particularized form of postwar trade union orientation was socially constructed in Britain, Germany, and France in which a party union nexus gave special privileges to unions in return for compliance with state policies in the national interest. This arrangement has broken down in recent years under the pressure of global product market competition. As a result, trade unions are being forced to adopt alternative strategic orientations, involving both a fracture in the party union nexus and a willingness to work within wider civil society.

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The Political Representation of the Labour Interest in Britain

Cited by 39 publications

References 13 publications

Reinventing the block vote? Trade unions and the 2010 Labour party leadership election

Reinventing the block vote? Trade unions and the 2010 Labour party leadership election

The New Solidarity? Trade Union Coalition-Building in Five Countries

The Crisis of “Social Democratic” Unionism

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