Advertisement
Published in:
2016 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
Union Democracy, Social Mobility and Stifled Militancy
Author : Alexander Beresford
Published in: South Africa’s Political Crisis
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK
Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.
Select sections of text to find matching patents with Artificial Intelligence. powered by
Select sections of text to find additional relevant content using AI-assisted search. powered by
In the labour studies literature, democratic union organisation and workers’ control over the direction of union struggles are deemed essential to checking the ‘oligarchic tendencies’ of union leaders who, it is assumed, are inherently more inclined to reach accommodations with management or political leaders owing to the bureaucratic pressures on their positions (Lipset 1977; Michels 1962). It is argued that the democratic organisation of unions can act as a counterweight to such bureaucratic tendencies by transferring power to ordinary members and thereby giving greater weight to their demands (Wood 2003).