Social Movement Unionism as Union-Civil Alliances: A Democratizing Force? The New Zealand Case

New Zealand's labour movement has shed members in recent decades and encountered strong challenges to its bargaining power and political influence, reflecting socio-economic, legal and political developments informed by globalization, deregulation and institutional change. Union revival strategies have emphasized the advancement of organizing and recruitment methods as well as legislative developments, but with limited success. This study focuses on the democratic arrangements underpinning union organization and efforts to develop and sustain alliances with campaigning civil society organizations in terms of union revival and the change that they bring about. Empiricism and qualitative materials on three alliances involving NZ's peak union body, the Council of Trade Unions, are examined through the lenses of liberal, participatory and radical democracy approaches. The study findings and prognosis have shared and unique implications for union federations interested in rethinking the axes on which their and other groups' democratic behaviour and agency turn.