Stephen Funnell
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Re:Whatever happened to "new unionism" in the UK? - 03/11/2006 17:30
I feel that there is an inescapable contradiction between unions pursuing an organising strategy and engaging in a partnership with employers. Coming from the radical perspective, I feel that a union’s primary role is to lessen the level of exploitation of labour by capital.
I appreciate that some people are uncomfortable with the seemingly emotive term ‘exploitation’, and prefer too see the employment relationship as workers ‘adding value’ to the organisation. It is not my intention here to criticise this interpretation. However, whatever terms you use, it is an inescapable fact that employers make or save money by extracting a surplus from workers.
My point is that if unions attempt to bolster the success of an organisation through partnership, they are contributing to their own exploitation. That is why so many union activists are uncomfortable with the whole concept of partnership. John Kelly once wrote something along the lines of: how can you have a partnership with something that you would rather did not exist? I appreciate that people feel that unions can be a valuable source of ‘employee voice’, but isn’t that a function of a staff forum rather than a trade union?
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