Leading labor: Unions, politics, and protest in new democracies

Comparative Politics

Volumn 36, Issue 3, 2004, Pages

  Robertson, Graeme B ^a  

^a Och Spine at New York Presbyterian Hospitals   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 2542471333     PISSN: 00104159     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/4150130     Document Type: Review

References (85)

1. Albert P. Melone, Creating Parliamentary Government: The Transition to Democracy in Bulgaria (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1998), pp. 207-13.
2. Dankwart A. Rustow, "Transitions to Democracy: Toward a Dynamic Model," in Lisa Anderson, ed., Transitions to Democracy (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), ch. 2; Guillermo O'Donnell and Philippe Schmitter, Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991).
3. Dankwart A. Rustow, "Transitions to Democracy: Toward a Dynamic Model," in Lisa Anderson, ed., Transitions to Democracy (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), ch. 2; Guillermo O'Donnell and Philippe Schmitter, Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991).
4. Ruth Berins Collier and James Mahoney, "Adding Collective Actors to Outcomes: Labor and Recent Democratization in South America and Southern Europe," Comparative Politics, 29 (April 1997), 285-303; Nancy Bermeo, "Myths of Moderation: Confrontation and Conflict during Democratic Transitions," Comparative Politics, 29 (April 1997), 305-22.
5. Ruth Berins Collier and James Mahoney, "Adding Collective Actors to Outcomes: Labor and Recent Democratization in South America and Southern Europe," Comparative Politics, 29 (April 1997), 285-303; Nancy Bermeo, "Myths of Moderation: Confrontation and Conflict during Democratic Transitions," Comparative Politics, 29 (April 1997), 305-22.
6. Collier and Mahoney, p. 287.
7. Patricia L. Hipsher, "Democratization and the Decline of Urban Social Movements in Chile and Spain," Comparative Politics, 28 (April 1996), 273-97; Mark Beissinger, "Event Analysis in Transitional Societies: Protest Mobilization in the Former Soviet Union," in Dieter Rucht, Ruud Koopmans, and Friedhelm Neidhart, eds., Acts of Dissent (Berlin: Edition Sigma, 1998); Lynn Kamenitsa, "The Process of Political Marginalization: East German Social Movements after the Wall," Comparative Politics, 30 (April 1998), 313-33; Paul Kubicek, "Organized Labor in Postcommunist States: Will the Western Sun Set on It, Too?," in Comparative Politics, 32 (October 1999), 83-102; Bela Greskovits, The Political Economy of Protest and Patience: East European and Latin American Transformations Compared (New York: Central European University Press, 1998), ch. 10. See also Sarah Ashwin, Russian Workers: The Anatomy of Patience (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999).
8. Patricia L. Hipsher, "Democratization and the Decline of Urban Social Movements in Chile and Spain," Comparative Politics, 28 (April 1996), 273-97; Mark Beissinger, "Event Analysis in Transitional Societies: Protest Mobilization in the Former Soviet Union," in Dieter Rucht, Ruud Koopmans, and Friedhelm Neidhart, eds., Acts of Dissent (Berlin: Edition Sigma, 1998); Lynn Kamenitsa, "The Process of Political Marginalization: East German Social Movements after the Wall," Comparative Politics, 30 (April 1998), 313-33; Paul Kubicek, "Organized Labor in Postcommunist States: Will the Western Sun Set on It, Too?," in Comparative Politics, 32 (October 1999), 83-102; Bela Greskovits, The Political Economy of Protest and Patience: East European and Latin American Transformations Compared (New York: Central European University Press, 1998), ch. 10. See also Sarah Ashwin, Russian Workers: The Anatomy of Patience (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999).
9. Patricia L. Hipsher, "Democratization and the Decline of Urban Social Movements in Chile and Spain," Comparative Politics, 28 (April 1996), 273-97; Mark Beissinger, "Event Analysis in Transitional Societies: Protest Mobilization in the Former Soviet Union," in Dieter Rucht, Ruud Koopmans, and Friedhelm Neidhart, eds., Acts of Dissent (Berlin: Edition Sigma, 1998); Lynn Kamenitsa, "The Process of Political Marginalization: East German Social Movements after the Wall," Comparative Politics, 30 (April 1998), 313-33; Paul Kubicek, "Organized Labor in Postcommunist States: Will the Western Sun Set on It, Too?," in Comparative Politics, 32 (October 1999), 83-102; Bela Greskovits, The Political Economy of Protest and Patience: East European and Latin American Transformations Compared (New York: Central European University Press, 1998), ch. 10. See also Sarah Ashwin, Russian Workers: The Anatomy of Patience (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999).
10. Patricia L. Hipsher, "Democratization and the Decline of Urban Social Movements in Chile and Spain," Comparative Politics, 28 (April 1996), 273-97; Mark Beissinger, "Event Analysis in Transitional Societies: Protest Mobilization in the Former Soviet Union," in Dieter Rucht, Ruud Koopmans, and Friedhelm Neidhart, eds., Acts of Dissent (Berlin: Edition Sigma, 1998); Lynn Kamenitsa, "The Process of Political Marginalization: East German Social Movements after the Wall," Comparative Politics, 30 (April 1998), 313-33; Paul Kubicek, "Organized Labor in Postcommunist States: Will the Western Sun Set on It, Too?," in Comparative Politics, 32 (October 1999), 83-102; Bela Greskovits, The Political Economy of Protest and Patience: East European and Latin American Transformations Compared (New York: Central European University Press, 1998), ch. 10. See also Sarah Ashwin, Russian Workers: The Anatomy of Patience (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999).
11. Patricia L. Hipsher, "Democratization and the Decline of Urban Social Movements in Chile and Spain," Comparative Politics, 28 (April 1996), 273-97; Mark Beissinger, "Event Analysis in Transitional Societies: Protest Mobilization in the Former Soviet Union," in Dieter Rucht, Ruud Koopmans, and Friedhelm Neidhart, eds., Acts of Dissent (Berlin: Edition Sigma, 1998); Lynn Kamenitsa, "The Process of Political Marginalization: East German Social Movements after the Wall," Comparative Politics, 30 (April 1998), 313-33; Paul Kubicek, "Organized Labor in Postcommunist States: Will the Western Sun Set on It, Too?," in Comparative Politics, 32 (October 1999), 83-102; Bela Greskovits, The Political Economy of Protest and Patience: East European and Latin American Transformations Compared (New York: Central European University Press, 1998), ch. 10. See also Sarah Ashwin, Russian Workers: The Anatomy of Patience (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999).
12. Patricia L. Hipsher, "Democratization and the Decline of Urban Social Movements in Chile and Spain," Comparative Politics, 28 (April 1996), 273-97; Mark Beissinger, "Event Analysis in Transitional Societies: Protest Mobilization in the Former Soviet Union," in Dieter Rucht, Ruud Koopmans, and Friedhelm Neidhart, eds., Acts of Dissent (Berlin: Edition Sigma, 1998); Lynn Kamenitsa, "The Process of Political Marginalization: East German Social Movements after the Wall," Comparative Politics, 30 (April 1998), 313-33; Paul Kubicek, "Organized Labor in Postcommunist States: Will the Western Sun Set on It, Too?," in Comparative Politics, 32 (October 1999), 83-102; Bela Greskovits, The Political Economy of Protest and Patience: East European and Latin American Transformations Compared (New York: Central European University Press, 1998), ch. 10. See also Sarah Ashwin, Russian Workers: The Anatomy of Patience (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999).
13. The notable exceptions to the general emphasis on passivity are Grzegorz Ekiert and Jan Kubik, "Contentious Politics in New Democracies: East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, 1989-93," World Politics, 50 (July 1998), 547-81; and Grzegorz Ekiert and Jan Kubik, Rebellious Civil Society: Popular Protest and Democratic Consolidation in Poland, 1989-1993 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999).
14. The notable exceptions to the general emphasis on passivity are Grzegorz Ekiert and Jan Kubik, "Contentious Politics in New Democracies: East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, 1989-93," World Politics, 50 (July 1998), 547-81; and Grzegorz Ekiert and Jan Kubik, Rebellious Civil Society: Popular Protest and Democratic Consolidation in Poland, 1989-1993 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999).
15. For example, data from the Russian state statistical agency Goskomstat are extremely problematic. Only strikes that are officially endorsed by the unions (which in practice usually means the management, too) are required to be recorded.
16. Karl Ove Moene and Michael Wallerstein, "How Social Democracy Worked: Labor Market Institutions," Politics and Society, 23 (June 1995), 185-211.
17. M. Victoria Murillo, "From Populism to Neoliberalism: Labor Unions and Market Reforms in Latin America," World Politics, 52 (January 2000), 135-74, also discusses union competition in the context of neoliberal reform in Latin America. Murillo's focus is on sectoral unions rather than national confederations, and she adopts the existence of alternative organizations rather than evidence of actual competition as her indicator.
18. Katrina Burgess, "Loyalty Dilemmas and Market Reform: Party-Union Alliances under Stress in Mexico, Spain and Venezuela," World Politics, 52 (October 1999), 105-34.
19. Krastyu Petkov and John E. M. Thirkell, Labour Relations in Eastern Europe: Organisational Design and Dynamics (New York: Routledge, 1991), pp. 212-13. The membership of trade unions, both official and independent, is highly uncertain in the postcommunist countries in general. More politically important than Podkrepa's claims of mass membership was its demonstrated ability to bring significant numbers of people onto the streets.
20. Ibid., p. 40.
21. Krastyu Petkov and Grigor Gradev, "Bulgaria," in John Thirkell, Richard Scase, and Sarah Vickerstaff, eds., Labor Relations and Political Change in Eastern Europe; A Comparative Perspective (Ithaca: ILR Press, 1995), p. 36.
22. John D. Bell, "Democratization and Political Participation in 'Post-Communist' Bulgaria," in Karen Dawisha and Bruce Parrott, eds., Politics, Power and the Struggle for Democracy in South-East Europe (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997), p. 361.
23. Petkov and Thirkell, pp. 212-14.
24. R. J. Crampton, "Bulgaria," in Stephen Whitehead, ed., The New Institutional Architecture of Eastern Europe (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993), p. 27.
25. Grigor Gradev, "Bulgarian Trade Unions in Transition: The Taming of the Hedgehog," in Stephen Crowley and David Ost, eds., Workers after Workers ' States: Labor and Politics in Postcommunist Eastern Europe (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), p. 129.
26. Ibid., p. 32.
27. Petkov and Thirkell, p. 222.
28. Petkov and Gradev, p. 45.
29. Bell, p. 380.
30. Gradev, p. 128.
31. Mark, Kramer, "Polish Workers and the Post-Communist Transition, 1989-93," Europe-Asia Studies, 47 (1995), 691.
32. Ibid., pp. 690-92; and David Ost, "The Weakness of Symbolic Strength: Labor and Union Identity in Poland, 1989-2000," in Crowley and Ost, eds., p. 86.
33. Ibid., pp. 690-92; and David Ost, "The Weakness of Symbolic Strength: Labor and Union Identity in Poland, 1989-2000," in Crowley and Ost, eds., p. 86.
34. Ost, p. 87.
35. Foreign Labor Trends (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, 1995), p. 6.
36. Foreign Labor Trends (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, 1997-1998), p. 9.
37. Ibid., p. 2. According to the same source, Solidarity membership declined only 3.1 percent in the same period.
38. Kramer, p. 701.
39. Ost, p. 87.
40. Ibid., p. 88.
41. Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way, "Between a Shock and a Hard Place: The Dynamics of Labor-Backed Adjustment in Poland and Argentina," Comparative Politics, 30 (January 1998), 171-92, viewed the split between Solidarity and Suchocka's government as constituting a breakdown in union support for reform. The subsequent course of events as sketched here shows that Solidarity's turn to opposition was temporary, while the cleavage between Solidarity and the SLD/OPZZ was deep and enduring.
42. Foreign Labor Trends (1997-1998), p. 11.
43. Ost, pp. 88-89.
44. Ibid., p. 91.
45. Foreign Labor Trends (1997-1998), p. 12.
46. Rossiiskii Gumanitarnyi Nauchnyi Fond (RGNF), Zabastovki 1989-1993 gg V Rossii: Sotsiologicheskii Aspekt [Strikes in Russia 1989-1993: The Sociological Aspect] (Kaluga: Kaluzhskii Institut Sotsiologii, 1996); interview with Irkutsk Regional President of the Federation of Air Traffic Controllers, Sergei Zaderaka, Irkutsk, June 2000, and with Irene Stevenson, Center for International Labor Solidarity, Moscow, July 2000; Paul Thomas Christensen, Russia's Workers in Transition: Labor, Management, and the State under Gorbachev and Yeltsin (Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1999), p. 112.
47. Rossiiskii Gumanitarnyi Nauchnyi Fond (RGNF), Zabastovki 1989-1993 gg V Rossii: Sotsiologicheskii Aspekt [Strikes in Russia 1989-1993: The Sociological Aspect] (Kaluga: Kaluzhskii Institut Sotsiologii, 1996); interview with Irkutsk Regional President of the Federation of Air Traffic Controllers, Sergei Zaderaka, Irkutsk, June 2000, and with Irene Stevenson, Center for International Labor Solidarity, Moscow, July 2000; Paul Thomas Christensen, Russia's Workers in Transition: Labor, Management, and the State under Gorbachev and Yeltsin (Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1999), p. 112.
48. V. I. Ilyin, "Shaktery Vorkuty I Kreml': K Istorii Otnoshenii" [The Miners of Vorkuta and the Kremlin: Toward a History of Their Relations], in A. M. Katsva, P. P. Kudyukin, and S. V. Patrushev, eds., Trudovye Otnosheniya I Kottektivnye Deistviya V Sovremennoi Rossii [Labor Relations and Collective Actions in Modern Russia] (Moscow: Editorial URSS, 1999). The origins of this alliance are the subject of some dispute. For opposing views, see Simon Clarke, Peter Fairbrother, Michael Burawoy, and Pavel Krotov, What about the Workers? Workers and the Transition to Capitalism in Russia (New York: Verso, 1993), pp. 161-62; and Stephen Crowley, Hot Coal, Cold Steel: Russian and Ukrainian Workers from the End of the Soviet Union to the Post-Communist Transformations (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997), p. 123.
49. V. I. Ilyin, "Shaktery Vorkuty I Kreml': K Istorii Otnoshenii" [The Miners of Vorkuta and the Kremlin: Toward a History of Their Relations], in A. M. Katsva, P. P. Kudyukin, and S. V. Patrushev, eds., Trudovye Otnosheniya I Kottektivnye Deistviya V Sovremennoi Rossii [Labor Relations and Collective Actions in Modern Russia] (Moscow: Editorial URSS, 1999). The origins of this alliance are the subject of some dispute. For opposing views, see Simon Clarke, Peter Fairbrother, Michael Burawoy, and Pavel Krotov, What about the Workers? Workers and the Transition to Capitalism in Russia (New York: Verso, 1993), pp. 161-62; and Stephen Crowley, Hot Coal, Cold Steel: Russian and Ukrainian Workers from the End of the Soviet Union to the Post-Communist Transformations (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997), p. 123.
50. V. I. Ilyin, "Shaktery Vorkuty I Kreml': K Istorii Otnoshenii" [The Miners of Vorkuta and the Kremlin: Toward a History of Their Relations], in A. M. Katsva, P. P. Kudyukin, and S. V. Patrushev, eds., Trudovye Otnosheniya I Kottektivnye Deistviya V Sovremennoi Rossii [Labor Relations and Collective Actions in Modern Russia] (Moscow: Editorial URSS, 1999). The origins of this alliance are the subject of some dispute. For opposing views, see Simon Clarke, Peter Fairbrother, Michael Burawoy, and Pavel Krotov, What about the Workers? Workers and the Transition to Capitalism in Russia (New York: Verso, 1993), pp. 161-62; and Stephen Crowley, Hot Coal, Cold Steel: Russian and Ukrainian Workers from the End of the Soviet Union to the Post-Communist Transformations (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997), p. 123.
51. FNPR property and its role in social provision at enterprises could be removed by presidential decree.
52. Simon Clarke, Trade Unions in the 1999 Duma Elections, http://www.csv.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/complabstuds/russia/russint.htm, 2000, p. 2.
53. Philippe C. Schmitter and Terry Lynn Karl, "The Conceptual Travels of Transitologists and Consolidologists: How Far to the East Should They Attempt to Go," Slavic Review, 53 (Spring 1994), 173-85; Valerie Bunce, "Should Transitologists Be Grounded," Slavic Review, 54 (Spring 1995), 111-27.
54. Philippe C. Schmitter and Terry Lynn Karl, "The Conceptual Travels of Transitologists and Consolidologists: How Far to the East Should They Attempt to Go," Slavic Review, 53 (Spring 1994), 173-85; Valerie Bunce, "Should Transitologists Be Grounded," Slavic Review, 54 (Spring 1995), 111-27.
55. Robert M. Fishman, Working Class Organization and the Return to Democracy in Spain (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990).
56. Juan J. Linz, "A Century of Politics and Interests in Spain," in Suzanne Berger, ed., Organizing Interests in Western Europe: Pluralism, Corporatism and the Transformation of Politics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981). The ANE is also known as the "pact of fear." Sebastian Royo, From Social Democracy to Neoliberalism: The Consequences of Party Hegemony in Spain, 1982-1996 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000), p. 177.
57. Juan J. Linz, "A Century of Politics and Interests in Spain," in Suzanne Berger, ed., Organizing Interests in Western Europe: Pluralism, Corporatism and the Transformation of Politics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981). The ANE is also known as the "pact of fear." Sebastian Royo, From Social Democracy to Neoliberalism: The Consequences of Party Hegemony in Spain, 1982-1996 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000), p. 177.
58. Royo, p. 73.
59. Ibid., p. 74.
60. Ibid., p. 9.
61. Ibid., p. 89.
62. Spain is also distinguished from the countries addressed by Mark Victoria Murillo, Labor Unions, Partisan Coalitions, and Market Reforms in Latin America (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001). Murillo looks only at interactions during neoliberal reforms introduced by labor-allied governments.
63. Steve Levitsky, "The De-Unionization of Peronism," University of California, Berkeley, Center for Labor Politics, Working Paper Series (October 1999), p. 3.
64. Murillo, Labor Unions, Partisan Coalitions, and Market Reforms in Latin America, ch. 6. Until 1992 Argentine labor law guaranteed a national monopoly to the CGT. In 1992 the Argentine Workers' Congress (CTA) was formed in opposition to Menem, but it remained based largely among white collar and public sector workers. Levitsky and Way, p. 183.
65. Murillo uses the term "effective restraint" to indicate restraint that is rewarded with design modifications in the neoliberal program that provide benefits to unions or union leaders. A similar account of this period is given by Levitsky and Way.
66. James W. McGuire, "Union Political Tactics and Democratic Consolidation in Alfonsin's Argentina, 1983-1989," Latin American Research Review, 27 (1992), 37.
67. Levitsky and Way, p. 185.
68. McGuire, p. 38.
69. Levitsky, p. 3.
70. Ibid., p. 20.
71. I owe this term to Doug McAdam, Sidney Tarrow, and Charles Tilly, Dynamics of Contention (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001).
72. Ira Katznelson, "Structure and Configuration in Comparative Politics," in Mark Irving Lichbach and Alan S. Zuckerman, eds., Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture and Structure (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).
73. Miners' unions were an exception.
74. The contrast also holds for Portugal and Brazil. In these three countries, trade unions were key elements of the antiauthoritarian opposition. Elena A, Iankova, "The Transformative Corporatism of Eastern Europe," East European Politics and Societies, 12 (Spring 1998), 240.
75. As of the end of 1994, seven postcommunist countries had national tripartite bargaining. "Instutionalization of Tripartism in Central and Eastern Europe," International Labour Review, 134 (1995), 417-26.
76. The excluded unions were small and were the creatures of the political parties, Gradev, p. 137.
77. I b i d.
78. "Instutionalization of Tripartism," pp. 422-23.
79. Ost, p. 91.
80. I b i d.
81. Interview with V. F. Lazarev, Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation, Moscow, November 2000; Linda J. Cook, Labor and Liberalization: Trade Unions in the New Russia (New York: The Twentieth Century Fund), p. 58; interview with Frank Hoffer, International Labor Organization, Moscow, October 2000.
82. For example, Walter Connor, Tattered Banners: Labor, Conflict and Corporatism in Postcommunist Russia (Boulder: Westview Press, 1996).
83. Burgess, Levitsky and Way, Murillo, and Royo all address this question in somewhat different ways.
84. One partial exception is the MST in Brazil, though it is not a labor union, stricto sensu, but a peasant social movement with close links to the Labor Party and the Catholic church.
85. As one independent trade union president put it, "there is only one political party in Russia: the party of power. Its members may carry different party cards, but it makes no difference." Interview with Sergei Khramov, President of Sotsprof, Moscow, October 2000.