The geometry of trade unionism: A comparative analysis of identities and ideology

This article proposes and applies a framework for the comparative analysis of trade union policy orientations, exploring the dynamics of continuity and change in ideologies and identities. It is common to distinguish three broad types of trade unionism. The ''business unionism'' historically characteristic in the United States and to some extent in Britain, involves a role primarily as interest organizations with labour market functions. The communist tradition which emerged in part in opposition to ''pure-and-simple'' unionism envisages unions as ''schools of war'' in a socio-political struggle between labour and capital; within Europe, this conception has been a powerful influence on trade unions in the Mediterranean countries for much of the present century. A third type, related both to social-democratic and christian-democratic traditions, envisages unions as vehicles for improving workers' status within existing (capitalist) society and in the process contributing to social stability and cohesion: a model which in the second half of this century became dominant in most northern European countries.