Critique of Labor
BLUM, ALBERT A.
Critique of Labor American Trade Union Democracy. By William M. Leiserson. Columbia University. 354 pp. $7.50. Reviewed by Albert A. Blum Assistant Professor, Cornell University School of...
...Senator McClellan and his staff have been searching for crooks...
...Reviewed by Albert A. Blum Assistant Professor, Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations THE SORDID findings of the Mc-Clellan Committee have prompted legislators to scurry around for ways to legislate democracy into the trade union movement...
...not causes...
...In their unions, they won't brook idealism since they feel they must be "realistic...
...One of my main difficulties in this early section is the author's comparison of democracy in an organization like a trade union and democracy within the United States...
...The fact that it is published now when there is so much public concern over this issue is mere coincidence...
...They see no dichotomy between these operations because the image they have of themselves as trade union leaders and as political leaders differ...
...His concern with trade union democracy did not arise in the wake of newspaper headlines...
...They will find a few errors of fact which perhaps would have been picked up by Leiserson if he had lived...
...The sooner these acts are condemned by citizens who are sympathetic to the labor movement, rather than justified by a wishy-washy set of double-standards, the more rapid will be the change in the leaders' attitudes and the more rapid the growth of democracy within the labor movement...
...He quotes twice, and this typifies his concern, a delegate's question at the 1945 Machinists' Convention as to whether a certain action taken by the convention had set aside the union's constitution, to which the president replied, "No...
...The difficulty is not that the conventions are supreme bodies and that presidents have tremendous authority, but that they are not adequately responsible to their members and the members' right to disagree is not protected...
...Union conventions when in session are usually supreme, and when not in session, presidents with the executive boards are normally supreme...
...Moreover, they often have a delayed-reaction image because to some of them the image they seek after is that of the 19th century industrialist with his public-be-damned attitude and a belief that as executives they know what is best for the workers—a watered-down version of Social Darwinism...
...Leiserson feared that the lack of democracy within the labor movement would have an adverse effect upon democracy in American society...
...But when Leiserson leaves the area of interpretation and describes union government in operation, as he does in the second and major part of his book, the story he tells is a fascinating one...
...the convention violated it...
...they will find areas of interpretation with which they might disagree...
...As trade union officials, the image they wish to reflect is that of the businessman with whom they negotiate—tough-minded and realistic...
...But are checks and balances and separation of power the only interpretations of democracy...
...He also discusses local, national and union federation (AFL-CIO) governments and the judicial process within unions in a stimulating fashion...
...Not that all they will read will be satisfactory...
...The hope for increased democracy within the trade union movement rests in good part with the leadership of the labor movement...
...Unfortunately, before a reader reaches this most valuable section, he has to meander through some 80 pages of labor history, human relations and political science...
...Unfortunately, the story Leiserson had to tell will probably be read only by labor union specialists, not by those who are framing our laws...
...it came as a result of his intimate contact with the labor movement and a strong desire for it to grow along democratic lines...
...Not that the forces for democracy within the labor movement necessarily rest with the mass of trade union members...
...The problem, therefore, is not whether democracy in the trade union movement has anything to do with democracy in our government...
...If the real desire is for more democracy in unions, a more meaningful source of information will be found in this book...
...Assuming this can be done, the place to look for help is not in the depressing story told in page after page of the Committee hearings...
...Some of the more democratic locals have placed greater restrictions on union membership because of race or religion than the top leadership of the unions desired...
...in politics, they can still afford to see their old idealism blossom forth...
...Can a labor union afford to have too many checks and balances so that its executives cannot function effectively in collective bargaining with an undemocratic organization like a corporation...
...Frequently, if they had their way, the unions would be less democratic...
...If so, many countries such as England are not democracies...
...The fact is that whenever labor leaders do not permit disagreement, and try to shut it up by expelling the dissidents, they are committing an evil act...
...Yet some of the leaders of unions whose internal operations are not particularly democratic have been among the most prominent fighters for increased democracy in the U.S...
...William Leiserson, one of the earliest professional labor arbitrators and for four years a member of the National Labor Relations Board, had started work on it in 1945 and because of his many other activities was only nearing completion of it when he died in 1957...
...Leiserson is disturbed over the lack of separation of powers and checks and balances in the government of most labor unions...
...Since he studied unions at first-hand and their constitutions and by-laws in detail, he portrays unions—mainly national unions—in action...
...His chapters on union conventions and how they operate are the best accounts ever written...
Vol. 42 • September 1959 • No. 35
