Union democracy is a term referring to the governance of

trade unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...

, in terms of the quality of election procedures at ensuring the executives of a union most accurately represent the interests of the members.

Theory

In 1911, a German sociologist,

Robert Michels Robert Michels (; 9 January 1876 – 3 May 1936) was a German-born Italian sociologist who contributed to elite theory by describing the political behavior of intellectual elites. He belonged to the Italian school of elitism. He is best know ...

propounded a view that all democratic organisations were prone to become

oligarchies Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...

because of the growth and size of modern organisations, the need for specialisation of officials, and the necessity that this

division of labour The division of labour is the separation of the tasks in any economic system or organisation so that participants may specialise (specialisation). Individuals, organizations, and nations are endowed with, or acquire specialised capabilities, and ...

would lead the rank and file to struggle to understand the activities of their leaders. Michels argued that this amounted to an

iron law of oligarchy The iron law of oligarchy is a political theory first developed by the German-born Italian sociologist Robert Michels in his 1911 book ''Political Parties''.James L. Hyland. ''Democratic theory: the philosophical foundations''. Manchester, Engl ...

: all groups, regardless of how democratic they may be at the start, eventually and inevitably develop into

with swollen

bureaucracies The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

. Michels himself, after falling out with the German Social Democrat Party, migrated to Italy and joined

Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

Fascist Party The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The ...

. Nevertheless, his ideas were popularized after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in particular by

Seymour Martin Lipset Seymour Martin Lipset ( ; March 18, 1922 – December 31, 2006) was an American sociologist and political scientist (President of the American Political Science Association). His major work was in the fields of political sociology, trade union o ...

, Trow, and

James Samuel Coleman James Samuel Coleman (May 12, 1926 – March 25, 1995) was an American sociologist, theorist, and empirical researcher, based chiefly at the University of Chicago. He was elected president of the American Sociological Association in 1991. He stud ...

in a book entitled, '' Union Democracy: The Internal Politics of the International Typographical Union'' (1957). This book argued that the

ITU The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...

was an exception to Michels' general law, and that the conditions necessary to ensure democracy were that an opposition to the union's leadership could form. This depended on ensuring the leadership did not monopolize the channels of communication with members. Lipset and his coauthors confined their understanding of "democracy" to the existence of organised opposition. They were skeptical that the conditions in the ITU, which made it democratic, were likely to arise in many other unions spontaneously. Following this, in 1959, the

US federal government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fed ...

passed the Landrum-Griffin Act 1959 to mandate democratic principles be followed in union governance.

Law

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

, Freedom of Association Convention (1948) No 87 *US Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act 1959 *UK Trade Union Act 1984, now in the

Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992c 52 is a UK Act of Parliament which regulates United Kingdom labour law. The Act applies in full in England and Wales and in Scotland, and partially in Northern Ireland. The law con ...

s 72

Principles

Principles include: *Frequent, contested elections, with rank-and-file members regularly challenging incumbents, and resultant turnover in officers and representatives, with all candidates having equal access to membership lists before elections, including the right to copy the list. *Open publications, with newsletters and websites publishing all members' views, including those critical of officials, representatives, or union policy, and the union encouraging open and free debate and discussion of issues and candidates; with election candidates having equal use of union publications and means of communication (website, newsletter, e-mail list) to put out their campaign material. *Member

ratification Ratification is a principal's approval of an act of its agent that lacked the authority to bind the principal legally. Ratification defines the international act in which a state indicates its consent to be bound to a treaty if the parties inten ...

, with all

contracts A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

and "side agreements" between union and management subject to ratification by secret ballot by the members covered by the contract. *

Strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

votes: members should vote on striking, on return to work, and on other decisions during strikes, with strike votes not used to force members to ratify contracts ("either you vote 'yes' or you vote to strike"). *"Informed vote": the complete text of proposed contract changes, amendments, referendums, etc. should be distributed to members prior to ratification votes, with sufficient time for meaningful membership review and discussion, and the union circulating (or at least not obstructing) different opinions about the contract offer. *Election of representatives:

shop steward A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a labor union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the union hold ...

s, business agents and other member representatives (paid or otherwise) should be elected by secret ballot of the members they represent, and subject to

recall Recall may refer to: * Recall (bugle call), a signal to stop * Recall (information retrieval), a statistical measure * ''ReCALL'' (journal), an academic journal about computer-assisted language learning * Recall (memory) * ''Recall'' (Overwatch ...

by the members they represent; stewards and active members should be trained in

legal rights Some philosophers distinguish two types of rights, natural rights and legal rights. * Natural rights are those that are not dependent on the laws or customs of any particular culture or government, and so are ''universal'', ''fundamental'' and ...

and

organizing Organizing or organized may refer to: * Organizing (management), a process of coordinating task goals and activities to resources * Community organizing, in which communities come together to act in their shared self-interest * Professional org ...

; and there should be stewards' councils that meet to plan and coordinate action. *Grievants' rights: workers should participate fully in the grievance process at every step, with full information about their case and its progress. *Member access to information: union representatives should provide members current and complete copies of the contract and the union constitution/bylaws, and the contract and constitution should be published on union websites. Members must have easy access to information on officers' salaries, budget, and expenses. Union representatives should regularly inform members of their rights under national and local law, and how to enforce them, including rights and responsibilities under the relevant regulations. *Regular

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

meetings, to be at least quarterly, announced ahead of time, at a time and place convenient to members, with an agenda circulated in advance, under reasonable

quorum A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature) necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to ''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', the ...

requirements not set so high as to prevent valid membership meetings. Real business should be conducted (not just a pep rally), with members encouraged to speak, make proposals, vote, and ask questions, and meeting minutes available to all members afterwards. *Independent organizing and communication outside union official structure: members should have the right to organize in independent committees and caucuses, publish rank-and-file newsletters and websites, and run candidates for union office, and union officers should encourage this. *Inclusion and equality: all members should be treated fairly, with the union fighting discrimination by management and among members. Union officers and representatives should reflect membership in terms of gender, race, language,

craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale prod ...

bargaining unit A bargaining unit, in labor relations, is a group of employees with a clear and identifiable community of interests who is (under US law) represented by a single labor union in collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negoti ...

seniority Seniority is the state of being older or placed in a higher position of status relative to another individual, group, or organization. For example, one employee may be senior to another either by role or rank (such as a CEO vice a manager), or by ...

, etc. Union contracts, constitution and bylaws, meetings, and publications should be accessible in the languages spoken by members. *Education for members: unions should train all interested members in legal rights and organizing, including how to participate effectively in the union and how to organize on the job. While there are some superficial similarities to the so-called

organizing model The organizing model, as the term refers to trade unions (and sometimes other social-movement organizations), is a broad conception of how those organizations should recruit, operate, and advance the interests of their members, though the specific ...

of union activity, advocates of union democracy are swift to point out that many of the alleged exemplars of the organizing model do not, in their internal structure, meet the requirements listed above.

Theory

Law

Principles

See also