Democracy in Overalls

The Futile Quest for Union Democracy

Bibliographic Data

ID3286602
AuthorsC Peter Magrath (corresponding author)
Year1959
Volume12
Issue4
Pages503
Publication date1959-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueIndustrial and Labor Relations Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0019-7939 • E-ISSN: 2162-271X
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2519841
OpenAlexW4240934179
LanguageEN
Citations received7

In the last few decades the trade union has emerged as one of the leading power forces in modern society. Today, for example, the union movement in the United States and Great Britain boasts a membership in the millions, with such unions as the British Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) and the United Auto Workers (UAW) in the United States having memberships of over one million. But along with its growth in power the union movement has given rise to a number of significant and complex problems. These problems are seen differently according to one's angle of vision, for unions, like all organizations, are viewed in many ways--in their relation to management, the state, the community (their civic role), and their members. The interest of this article lies exclusively with the last category; more specifically, it is concerned with the feasibility of internal union democracy, that is, the control of union government by the members, as a proposed or existing solution to the disparate power relationships that exist between the individual member and his union organization. (Author's abstract courtesy EBSCO.)

Courtesy · Democracy · Government (linguistics) · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Sociology · State (computer science) · European Union Policy and Governance · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Mathematics · Public Administration

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