Trade unions, democracy and power

Abstract

Should the law support union recognition by employers? If so, what form should this legal support take? These are the questions that Alan Bogg addresses in his excellent monograph,The Democratic Aspects of Trade Union Recognition. His focus is New Labour's 1999 statutory recognition procedure for trade unions, which he situates within the historical context of the United Kingdom's distinctive approach to the relationship between labour law and the social practice of collective bargaining – aptly (and famously) named collective laissez-faire by Otto Kahn-Freund (1972). Combining political philosophy and legal analysis, Bogg argues for robust legal support for trade union recognition that preserves the autonomy of trade unions to determine their own constituency and recognises their distinctive power to strike. Inspired by the idea of deliberative democracy and an ethical commitment to freedom as non-domination, he argues that civic republicanism provides the best normative basis for trade union recognition procedures. He contrasts this normative framework with the rights-based individualism and state neutrality characteristic of the liberal approach, which, he argues, is embodied in the United States and Canadian versions of industrial pluralism. Bogg also demonstrates the ‘yawning chasm between New Labour's civic rhetoric and New Labour's liberal legal reform agenda’ (pp. 118–19) when it comes to trade union recognition procedures. He concludes by offering a series of proposals that would enhance union recognition and further the values of freedom as non-domination, democratic participation through deliberative democracy, and community.