DOCSLIB.ORG

An End of History for Union Democracy: the Inevitability of Corporatism and the Unrealized Participatory Workplace

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
An End of History for Union Democracy: the Inevitability of Corporatism and the Unrealized Participatory Workplace Preliminary Draft, Do Not Citation or Circulation An End of History for Union Democracy: The Inevitability of Corporatism and the Unrealized Participatory Workplace Jedidiah J. Kroncke FGV Sao Paulo School of Law Early in 2015, the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) celebrated one in a series of hard-won victories in its struggle within the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) to promote union democracy—in this case preserving the right for IBT members to directly elect their national representatives. 1 As the largest union in the United States, the TDU’s struggles have often served to symbolize long-standing tensions within the U.S. labor movement between member participation and institutional bureaucracy. The fact that in 2015 such a fundamental issue of internal union democracy could be a point of continued and prolonged contention reflects the often- uneasy place of democratic norms within the U.S. workplace. This tension between democratic and, what will be termed, corporatist norms has not only been a historical constant within the U.S. labor movement but also finds parallels in labor movements across the globe. Moreover, the few global bright spots in promoting democratic norms within the modern workplace find themselves submerged within a larger secular trend towards greater excision of democratic norms from the labor regulatory schemes. As such, the foundational norms of economic democracy that gave rise to labor unionism following 20 th century industrializations have not been translated into the more participatory workplaces, an ideal that was once hopefully imagined by labor activists and scholars. Instead, norms of economic democracy have been undercut by reinvigorated promotion of technocratic conceptions of managerial expertise from the enterprise to the transnational level—the same conceptions which have also placed more generalized pressure on participatory norms in 1 th Alexandra Bradbury, Teamsters Secure their Right to Vote, In Time for 2016 Election , LABOR NOTES (Jan. 28 , 2015). 1 Preliminary Draft, Do Not Citation or Circulation practices of political democracies.2 While the modern citizen is often assumed in their life as a consumer to effectively filter and process complex data in a world of growing financialization, in their life as a producer they are assumed to have little capacity to contribute meaningfully to workplace decision-making. As a result, there has been little disturbance of the conceptualization of capital’s contribution to the workplace through the lens of ownership and labor’s contribution through the lens of commodity exchange. The extensivity of this trend has induced what Guy Mundluk recently diagnosed as a near global state of anomie among labor scholars. 3 This anomie reflects the continued rebuffing of hopes that the 20 th century rise of collective bargaining, alongside the growth of welfare state arrangements, would progressively assuage the dislocations of labor commodification that Polanyi identified at the heart of the industrial capitalism. 4 For this paper, the modern vitality of the welfare state will be set aside to focus on exploring why, in comparative frame, the promise of economic democracy through the formation of labor unions has continued to leave labor movements either recurrently calling for revitalization through internal re-democratization or a retreat, from often quite radical ideologies, into corporatist forms of social bargaining that place little to no value on economic democracy. This paper will argue that these two adaptations, 1) faltering revitalization or 2) growing corporatism, reflect the inescapable fact that union democracy, in its internal and external instantiations, relies on processes of social capital formation that are fundamentally at odds with the logics of capital formation which discipline the modern workplace. Following the global proliferation of what David Harvey called flexible accumulation, 5 and accelerated by the denationalization of financial capital, no human-centric process of social capital formation can match the current logistical speed and scope of capital mobility. 6 While in specific contexts over limited time horizons—most often involving intense mobilization around political democratization or in small homogenous nations—episodic labor movements can transcend this mismatch, but the 2 Compare ANTHONY DOWN , AN ECONOMIC THEORY OF DEMOCRACY (1957) and BRYAN CAPLAN , THE MYTH OF THE RATIONAL VOTER (2007). 3 Guy Mundlak, Workplace Democracy: Reclaiming the Effort to Foster Public-Private Isomorphism , 15 THEOR . INQ . LAW 149, 153 (2014). 4 KARL POLANYI , THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION (1944). 5 DAVID HARVEY , THE CONDITION OF POSTMODERNITY (1989). 6 Sanford Jacoby, Finance and Labor: Perspectives on Risk, Inequality, and Democracy , 30 COMP . LAB . L. & POL ’Y J. 17 (2008). 2 Preliminary Draft, Do Not Citation or Circulation levels of social capital they generate eventually dissipate or are ground away by the steady-state operation of the mobility mismatch with financial capital. The process of social capital formation and reduction explains both the unrealized promise of systems of collective bargaining laying the groundwork for more participatory workplace regulation as well as the devolution of many union traditions into corporatism—identified over a century ago by Robert Michels as an example of his iron law of oligopoly. 7 While labor union activists and supportive intellectuals often decry this devolution, the comparative scholarship on labor unions has revealed that, whatever successes are achieved by episodic upswings in union democracy, those collective bargaining systems that have been best able to serve the collective interests of their workers are often of the hyper-corporatist variety. This paper will explore this general principle by comparing the mid-to-late 20 th century trajectories of unions with quite different institutional and legal arrangements, those of the United States, Brazil and China. Herein, the durability of Brazilian union corporatism and the emergence of corporatist Chinese unions, even after a century of quite divergent political development, raises questions as to the extent to which the labor union model is still an ultimately progressive one today. It further questions the continued search to promote union democracy, especially of the decentralized and privately-ordered variety in the U.S., as a Sisyphean effort. Such questioning occurs in light of the fact that, especially for spatially large and socially diverse nations, the very success of these corporatist regimes depends on repressing internal democratic norms in order to strengthen their broader form of social bargaining. In contrast to past claims about ends of history, this apparent end of history for union democracy is far from celebratory, nevertheless it is hard at this point in labor history to ignore. The irony of this end of history is that labor unions have been historically (as they were in Brazil and continue to be today in China), crucial vectors for political democratization. 8 The solidarity generating potential of unions fed the social movements necessary to provoke systemic social change during multiple waves of 20 th century democratizations, but post-democratization either turned to embrace corporatism or faded from social influence. Although the type of participatory workplace in which norms of economic democracy have a future might require 7 ROBERT MICHELS , POLITICAL PARTIES (1911). 8 Jedidiah Kroncke, Property Rights, Labor Rights & Democratization: Lessons from China and Experimental Authoritarians , 45 N.Y.U. J. Int'l L. & Pol. 1 (2013). 3 Preliminary Draft, Do Not Citation or Circulation similar social mobilizations to institutionalize, such is at best tangential to the possibility of union democracy itself. To develop this general argument, this paper progresses in four parts. Part I will provide background on debates about union democracy and their relationship with norms of economic democracy and labor union corporatism. Part II will present the tenuous place of union democracy in the United States, the largest exemplar of private, enterprise level collective bargaining that depends heavily on complementary social movements. Moreover, such dependence has left the U.S. labor movement following an unsuccessful pattern of recurrently failed calls for democratic revitalization after resorting to the use of electoral politics as a de facto form of corporatist bargaining. Part III discusses the modern Brazilian experience, possessing perhaps the most successful large-scale corporatist union regime. A central actor in Brazilian transition to democracy, the Brazilian labor party and its allied unions have since pursued ever-increasing marginalization of internal democracy and erected a hyper-corporatist arrangement with few, if any, links to democratic norms. Part IV relates the contentious role of the labor union form in contemporary China, where the communist presumption of alignment between Party and worker interests left the state union structure scrambling after its 1978 liberalization to experiment with union corporatism as both a solution to labor unrest and as a preemptive strike against labor mobilization fueling political democratization. Part V concludes by considering a harsh choice presented by the preceding analysis: is the entrenched and sclerotic nature of corporatist unions, even as they act to repress new ideas and more radical social movements, the best, if imperfect, shield against
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Political Ideas and Movements That Created the Modern World
    harri+b.cov 27/5/03 4:15 pm Page 1 UNDERSTANDINGPOLITICS Understanding RITTEN with the A2 component of the GCE WGovernment and Politics A level in mind, this book is a comprehensive introduction to the political ideas and movements that created the modern world. Underpinned by the work of major thinkers such as Hobbes, Locke, Marx, Mill, Weber and others, the first half of the book looks at core political concepts including the British and European political issues state and sovereignty, the nation, democracy, representation and legitimacy, freedom, equality and rights, obligation and citizenship. The role of ideology in modern politics and society is also discussed. The second half of the book addresses established ideologies such as Conservatism, Liberalism, Socialism, Marxism and Nationalism, before moving on to more recent movements such as Environmentalism and Ecologism, Fascism, and Feminism. The subject is covered in a clear, accessible style, including Understanding a number of student-friendly features, such as chapter summaries, key points to consider, definitions and tips for further sources of information. There is a definite need for a text of this kind. It will be invaluable for students of Government and Politics on introductory courses, whether they be A level candidates or undergraduates. political ideas KEVIN HARRISON IS A LECTURER IN POLITICS AND HISTORY AT MANCHESTER COLLEGE OF ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY. HE IS ALSO AN ASSOCIATE McNAUGHTON LECTURER IN SOCIAL SCIENCES WITH THE OPEN UNIVERSITY. HE HAS WRITTEN ARTICLES ON POLITICS AND HISTORY AND IS JOINT AUTHOR, WITH TONY BOYD, OF THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION: EVOLUTION OR REVOLUTION? and TONY BOYD WAS FORMERLY HEAD OF GENERAL STUDIES AT XAVERIAN VI FORM COLLEGE, MANCHESTER, WHERE HE TAUGHT POLITICS AND HISTORY.
    [Show full text]
  • Reactionary Postmodernism? Neoliberalism, Multiculturalism, the Internet, and the Ideology of the New Far Right in Germany
    University of Vermont ScholarWorks @ UVM UVM Honors College Senior Theses Undergraduate Theses 2018 Reactionary Postmodernism? Neoliberalism, Multiculturalism, the Internet, and the Ideology of the New Far Right in Germany William Peter Fitz University of Vermont Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/hcoltheses Recommended Citation Fitz, William Peter, "Reactionary Postmodernism? Neoliberalism, Multiculturalism, the Internet, and the Ideology of the New Far Right in Germany" (2018). UVM Honors College Senior Theses. 275. https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/hcoltheses/275 This Honors College Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Undergraduate Theses at ScholarWorks @ UVM. It has been accepted for inclusion in UVM Honors College Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ UVM. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REACTIONARY POSTMODERNISM? NEOLIBERALISM, MULTICULTURALISM, THE INTERNET, AND THE IDEOLOGY OF THE NEW FAR RIGHT IN GERMANY A Thesis Presented by William Peter Fitz to The Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of The University of Vermont In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements For the Degree of Bachelor of Arts In European Studies with Honors December 2018 Defense Date: December 4th, 2018 Thesis Committee: Alan E. Steinweis, Ph.D., Advisor Susanna Schrafstetter, Ph.D., Chairperson Adriana Borra, M.A. Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One: Neoliberalism and Xenophobia 17 Chapter Two: Multiculturalism and Cultural Identity 52 Chapter Three: The Philosophy of the New Right 84 Chapter Four: The Internet and Meme Warfare 116 Conclusion 149 Bibliography 166 1 “Perhaps one will view the rise of the Alternative for Germany in the foreseeable future as inevitable, as a portent for major changes, one that is as necessary as it was predictable.
    [Show full text]
  • Union Security and the Right to Work Laws: Is Coexistence Possible?
    William & Mary Law Review Volume 2 (1959-1960) Issue 1 Article 3 October 1959 Union Security and the Right to Work Laws: Is Coexistence Possible? J. T. Cutler Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr Part of the Labor and Employment Law Commons Repository Citation J. T. Cutler, Union Security and the Right to Work Laws: Is Coexistence Possible?, 2 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 16 (1959), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr/vol2/iss1/3 Copyright c 1959 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr UNION SECURITY AND RIGHT-TO-WORK LAWS: IS CO-EXISTENCE POSSIBLE? J. T. CUTLER THE UNION STRUGGLE At the beginning of the 20th Century management was all powerful and with the decision in Adair v. United States1 it seemed as though Congress was helpless to regulate labor relations. The Supreme Court had held that the power to regulate commerce could not be applied to the labor field because of the conflict with fundamental rights secured by the Fifth Amendment. Moreover, an employer could require a person to agree not to join a union as a condition of his employment and any legislative interference with such an agreement would be an arbitrary and unjustifiable infringement of the liberty of contract. It was not until the first World War that the federal government successfully entered the field of industrial rela- tions with the creation by President Wilson of the War Labor Board. Upon being organized the Board adopted a policy for- bidding employer interference with the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively and employer discrimination against employees engaging in lawful union activities2 .
    [Show full text]
  • Which Developmentalism
    1 Which developmentalism? A Keynesian-Institutionalist proposal Fernando Ferrari Filho Professor of Economics at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and Researcher at National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, Brazil. [email protected] Pedro Cezar Dutra Fonseca Professor of Economics at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and Researcher at National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, Brazil. [email protected] Abstract: Academic discussion of Brazil’s economic growth is currently framed in terms of export-led growth and wage-led growth, identified, respectively, with the new- developmentalism and the social-developmentalism approaches. This article presents a Keynesian-Institutionalist proposal to the Brazilian economy based on a wage-led regime without neglecting the long run balance of payment on current account requirement to ensure macroeconomic stability in the Brazilian economy. Keywords: New-developmentalism, social-developmentalism, Keynesian- Institutionalist, wage-led, profit-led and export-led growths. JEL Codes: B, B5. 1 Introduction While priority was given to monetary stability during the 1980s and 1990s, economic growth has gradually been finding its way back to both theoretical economic debate and economic policy discussions in Brazil since the 2000s. This has been due partly, on the one hand, to the election of various governments critical of neoliberalism in Latin America and, on the other hand, to the 2007-2008 financial crisis, which restored interventionism to the agenda,
    [Show full text]
  • Governing Body 323Rd Session, Geneva, 12–27 March 2015 GB.323/INS/5/Appendix III
    INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE Governing Body 323rd Session, Geneva, 12–27 March 2015 GB.323/INS/5/Appendix III Institutional Section INS Date: 13 March 2015 Original: English FIFTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA The Standards Initiative – Appendix III Background document for the Tripartite Meeting on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), in relation to the right to strike and the modalities and practices of strike action at national level (revised) (Geneva, 23–25 February 2015) Contents Page Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1 Decision on the fifth item on the agenda: The standards initiative: Follow-up to the 2012 ILC Committee on the Application of Standards .................. 1 Part I. ILO Convention No. 87 and the right to strike ..................................................................... 3 I. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 3 II. The Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) ......................................................................... 3 II.1. Negotiating history prior to the adoption of the Convention ........................... 3 II.2. Related developments after the adoption of the Convention ........................... 5 III. Supervision of obligations arising under or relating to Conventions ........................
    [Show full text]
  • Developmentalism, Modernity, and Dependency Theory in Latin America
    Developmentalism, Modernity, and Dependency Theory in Latin America Ramón Grosfoguel The Latin American dependentistas produced a knowledge that criticized the Eurocentric assumptions of the cepalistas,includingtheorthodoxMarxistandtheNorthAmericanmodern- ization theories. The dependentista school critique of stagism and develop- mentalism was an important intervention that transformed the imaginary of intellectual debates in many parts of the world. However, I will argue that many dependentistas were still caught in the developmentalism, and in some cases even the stagism, that they were trying to overcome. Moreover, although the dependentistas’ critique of stagism was important in denying the “denial of coevalness” that Johannes Fabian (1983) describes as central to Eurocentric constructions of “otherness,” some dependentistas replaced it with new forms of denial of coevalness. The first part of this article dis- cusses developmentalist ideology and what I call “feudalmania” as part of the longue durée of modernity in Latin America. The second part discusses the dependentistas’ developmentalism. The third part is a critical discussion of Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s version of dependency theory. Finally, the fourth part discusses the dependentistas’ concept of culture. Developmentalist Ideology and Feudalmania as Part of the Ideology of Modernity in Latin America There is a tendency to present the post-1945 development debates in Latin America as unprecedented. In order to distinguish continuity from dis- continuity, we must place the 1945–90 development debates in the context of the longue durée of Latin American history. The 1945–90 development Nepantla: Views from South 1:2 Copyright 2000 by Duke University Press 347 348 Nepantla debates in Latin America, although seemingly radical, in fact form part of the longue durée of the geoculture of modernity that has dominated the modern world-system since the French Revolution in the late eighteenth century.
    [Show full text]
  • The Corporatism of Fascist Italy Between Words and Reality
    CORPORATIVISMO HISTÓRICO NO BRASIL E NA EUROPA http://dx.doi.org/10.15448/1980-864X.2016.2.22336 The corporatism of Fascist Italy between words and reality O corporativismo da Itália fascista entre palavras e realidade El corporativismo de la Italia fascista entre las palabras y la realidad Alessio Gagliardi* Translated by Sergio Knipe Abstract: It is common knowledge that State intervention in Italy in the Twenties and the Thirties developed outside of corporative institutions. The history of Fascist corporatism, however, is not only an unsuccessful story. Despite the failure of the “corporatist revolution” and “Fascist third way”, Fascist corporatism since the mid- Twenties helped the progressive development of a new political system to regulate relationship between State and private interests. The paper examines not only the institutional framework (the systems of formal laws, regulations, and procedures, and informal norms) but also their acts and real activities. It dwells upon internal debates, political and institutional importance acquired by corporative institutions in Fascist regime and behaviours of entrepreneurial organizations and labour unions. In this way, the paper aims to point out the “real” consequences of Fascist corporatism, different from the ideological ones. Keywords: corporatism; Fascism; Italy Resumo: É de conhecimento geral que intervenções estatais na Itália nas décadas de 1920 e 1930 se desenvolveram fora de instituições corporativas. A história do corporativismo fascista, no entanto, não é totalmente sem sucessos. Apesar da falha da “revolução corporativista” e da “terceira via fascista”, o corporativismo fascista, desde meados dos anos 1920, ajudou no desenvolvimento progressivo de um novo sistema político para regular a relação entre o Estado e interesses privados.
    [Show full text]
  • OD 012 956 AUTHOR TITLE Strategies; Mass Control; *Social Vocational Education Ability to Adapt the Environment to His Appreciat
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 068 595 OD 012 956 AUTHOR Gordon, Edmund W. TITLE Broadening the Concept of CareerEducation. PUB DATE Sep 72 NOTE 15p. EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 DESCRIPTORS *Career Education; Communications;*Cultural Factors; Educational Development; EducationalNeeds; *Educational Objectives; EducationalPhilosophy; Educational Planning; EducationalStrategies; Mass Media; Secondary Education; SelfControl; *Social Change; *Technological Advancement;Vocational Education ABSTRACT The advanced technology of moderncommunications has created a condition in which thecontradictions of complex social orders, the atrocities ofinterpersonal, intertribal, and international conflicts, theinequities inherent in practicallyall of our social systems, as well asthe richness of our culturaland technical accomplishments constantlybombard the human spirit with relentless assault and stimulation.Human beings, accustomed to far simpler social environments, havereacted to these inputs with habituation or adaptation. As theseinputs increase in complexity and intensity, the process of habituationis likely to accelerate and the processes of adaptationmust become more complex. Undersuch capacities the survival of man willincreasingly depend on his capacity to use his intellectual powerto adapt to his changing environment as well as on hisability to adapt the environment tohis special needs. Such capacities arelikely to be the product of learning experiences designed tocultivate the mind and spirit of man in ways which combine competencein the use of knowledge, compassionate and empatheticappreciation of values, and masteryof selected skills. It is then thesethree which must comprise the dimensions of career education --education which prepares for continued progress in the life of a person.(Author/3M) FILMED FROM BEST AVAILABLE COPY U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO- OUCEO EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIG- INATING IT.
    [Show full text]
  • BARGAINING the EIGHTIES a and A
    CAMPus· BARGAINING IN THE EIGHTIES A Retrospective and a Prospective Look Proceedings Eighth Annual Conference April 1980 AARON LEVENSTEIN, Editor JOEL M. DOUGLAS, Director ~ National Center for the Study of • Collective Bargaining in Higher Education 0 ~ Baruch College- CUNY CAMPUS BARGAINING IN THE EIGHTIES A Retrospective and a Prospective Look Proceedings Eighth Annual Conference April 1980 AARON LEVENSTEIN, Editor JOEL M. DOUGLAS, Director ~ National Center for the Study of • 0 • Collective Bargaining in Higher Education ~~,,,, Baruch College-CUNY TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1. Joel M. Douglas - Introduction ............................ 5 2. Joel Segall - Welcoming Address . .. 11 3. T. Edward Hollander and Lawrence R. Marcus - The Economic Environment in the Eighties ..................................... 12 4. Gerie Bledsoe - The Economic Environment in the Eighties - The Necessity for Joint Action ....................................... 1 9 5. Aaron Levenstein - The Legal Environment: The Yeshiva Decision ................................. 24 6. Joseph M. Bress - The Legal Environment in the Eighties - The Agency Shop . ..... 39 7. John Silber - Collective Bargaining m Higher Education: Expectations and Realities - A University President's Viewpoint ........................................ 49 8. Margaret K. Chandler and Daniel Julius - Rights Issues: A Scramble for Power? ........................................ 58 9. Jerome Medalie - Faculty Relations in Non-unionized Institutions ........................... 65 I 0. Ildiko Knott - Union
    [Show full text]
  • Executive Council Report
    ExEcutivE council REpoRt FoR ThE PaST FouR YEaRS, the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO, which is the governing body of the federation between conventions, has coordinated the work of our movement to reverse the growing power of giant corporations and special interests, while advancing the crucial needs of working families and driving programs to build a people-powered future for America. We deployed multiple approaches to grow and strengthen our movement. We seized opportunities to make working family priorities central in our nation and the global economy. And we worked to build a unified labor movement with the power to take on the tremendous challenges before us. The AFL-CIO Executive Council is constitutionally charged with reporting on the activities of the AFL-CIO and its affiliates to each Convention. It is with great respect for the delegates to our 26th Constitutional Convention that we present this report on highlights of the past four years. CONTENTS Growing and strengthening the union Movement 17 putting Working Family priorities at center stage 26 unifying our Movement 39 AFL-CIO CONVENTION • 2009 15 16 AFL-CIO CONVENTION • 2009 Growing and Strengthening the Union Movement At ouR 2005 ConVEnTIon, the AFL-CIO In 2005, we adopted a comprehensive recognized the imperative to do much more to resolution calling for the AFL-CIO and its affiliates support and stimulate the organizing of new to devote even more resources, research and members by affiliates and to enact federal staff to helping workers join unions and bargain. legislation to curtail anti-union activities by Since that time, affiliates have significantly employers and restore the freedom of workers increased funding and operations to join unions and bargain for a better life.
    [Show full text]
  • The Framework of Democracy in Union Government
    The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law CUA Law Scholarship Repository Scholarly Articles and Other Contributions Faculty Scholarship 1982 The Framework of Democracy in Union Government Roger C. Hartley The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.edu/scholar Part of the Labor and Employment Law Commons, and the Law and Politics Commons Recommended Citation Roger C. Hartley, The Framework of Democracy in Union Government, 32 CATH. U. L. REV. 13 (1982). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at CUA Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scholarly Articles and Other Contributions by an authorized administrator of CUA Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE FRAMEWORK OF DEMOCRACY IN UNION GOVERNMENT* Roger C. Hartley** TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction ................................................. 15 II. Broad Contours of the Framework .......................... 18 A. The Dual Union Governments .......................... 18 B. Causes of Doctrinal Fragmentation ...................... 20 III. Unions' Assigned Societal Functions ......................... 26 A. The Roots of Ambivalence .............................. 26 1. English and Colonial American Historical and Legal Precedent ............................................ 26 2. Competing Values Raised in the Conspiracy Trials 28 B. Subsequent Forces Conditioning the Right to Assert G roup Interests ......................................... 30 1. Informal Worker Control of Group Conduct ......... 31 2. The Development of Business Unionism ............. 32 a. Worker Political Movements ..................... 32 b. Cooperative Movements .......................... 32 c. The Ascendancy of the Union Movement ........ 33 3. Recognition of the Need for Unions as a Countervailing Force ................................ 34 a. Emergence of Corporate Power .................
    [Show full text]
  • Worker Dislovation: Who Bears the Burden? a Comparative Study of Social Values in Five Countries Clyde Summers
    Notre Dame Law Review Volume 70 | Issue 5 Article 1 6-1-1999 Worker Dislovation: Who Bears the Burden? A Comparative Study of Social Values in Five Countries Clyde Summers Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Clyde Summers, Worker Dislovation: Who Bears the Burden? A Comparative Study of Social Values in Five Countries, 70 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1033 (1995). Available at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlr/vol70/iss5/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by NDLScholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Notre Dame Law Review by an authorized administrator of NDLScholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Worker Dislocation: Who Bears The Burden? A Comparative Study of Social Values in Five Countries Clyde W. Summers A pervasive phenomenon in modern industrial societies is the instability of employment. Production methods are replaced by new processes requiring different skills; robots replace human -hands; computers replace humaff competency. Demands for popu- lar products shrink or disappear as new or substitute products push into the market. Viable production facilities are transferred to new owners who may have new workforces. Outmoded plants are closed and new plants are opened, often at new locations with new employees. Marginal enterprises are downsized and unprofit- able enterprises are driven out of business. All of these changes are accentuated by slumps in the business cycle, leaving workers stranded without jobs.' Dislocation of workers is inescapable in anything other than a closed and regimented society which prefers stagnation to in- creased living standards.
    [Show full text]