Article by Clyde W. Summers
A brooding question that only occasionally surfaces in articulate form is whether unions have outlived their usefulness—whether collective bargaining is but a passing phase in the evolution of a modern industrial society. The question is raised with equal seriousness by those who were never convinced that unions served a useful purpose or believed them a blight on a “free market” system, and by those who saw in unions the promise of a new social order and who are disillusioned by their performance.
The usefulness of unions should be measured by identifying the functions in society that unions have performed, are now performing, and potentially may perform. If we look only at unions in the United States, we may have a limited vision of what unions are or what they may become. We may fail to see their special contributions and their unfilled potential because we are unable to imagine unions having any form or function other than that with which we are familiar.
A comparative study of unions compels us to recognize that unions take various forms and perform various functions. Their role in our society is quite different from their roles in other countries, and their roles in other countries vary from country to country. Their political roles are not the same, the focus and scope of their economic functions are different, and their place in society may be quite different. To reverse Gertrude Stein, “A union is not a union is not a union.”
These differences do not make comparative study any less relevant. Examining the functions of unions in other countries can free our mind from parochial boundaries so that we can recognize the unique character of our unions, their present limitations, and the variety of their possibilities. I do not mean to suggest that American unions can copy those in other countries, or would if they could; but we may gain some insights which will at least enable us to see ourselves more clearly, and understand the usefulness of our unions in our modern industrial society.
My plan here is to sketch in broad strokes the functions of unions in three other countries—West Germany, Sweden, and Great Britain. For purposes of simplification, I want to focus on those functions under four categories: first, the political function—that is, the union's role in the elective and administrative processes of the government; second, the general economic function of structuring the labor market; third, the specific economic function of obtaining benefits for its members; and fourth, the “industrial” democracy function of bringing justice, participation, and humane concerns to the workplace.
About the Author
Clyde W. Summers. Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania.
Citation
58 Tul. L. Rev. 1409 (1984)