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MARKETS AGAINST SOCIETY 271

Figure 18.3 The critical strategic choice for trade unionism
Political orientation Market Class Society
Market-driven politics Re-regulation to Promoting the flexible Markets as the engine
empower corporations worlds of work; of the social;
in the guise of Lean production; Transforming social programs;
market freedom. Work intensification, Welfare to workfare
Privatization and the casualization
transformation of the state
Societal-driven politics New forms of social Limiting casualization; Social citizenship;
regulation; Social benchmarking Expanding the public domain.
Asserting social and Re-centering the local
democratic control
over corporations

justice and solidarity movement’ and the need This created a high level of participation,
for ‘a new labor internationalism’ (Waterman, which gave workers a sense of empowerment
2001, 2002, 2003a, 2003b, 2004). that stimulated the rapid growth of strong
This resurgent scholarly debate is a workplace-based unionism throughout the
response to the crisis of business unionism. 1970s and 1980s (Baskin, 1991; Friedman,
The experience of South Africa and Brazil 1987; Maree, 1986). Above all, this radical
provides fertile ground for reflection on the internal democracy generated a depth of lead-
alternative needed to engage restructuring ership forged in the cut and thrust of building
because the state regimes in both countries, solidarity and engaging in collective action.
backed by corporate interests, appeared all There was a similar trajectory in Brazil where
powerful. The possibility of challenging the the clandestine work of activists developed a
state looked like a pipe dream just as today workplace militancy that undermined the mil-
the notion that corporate restructuring can be itary controls established in the 1960s. A
halted seems like a fantasy, like desire. From 1978 metal sector strike wave overcame ‘a
the outset, in these countries it was clear that sense of powerlessness’ that had prevailed
collective bargaining in and of itself could (Seidman, 1994: 154).
never challenge political oppression. A social movement orientation is what dis-
Powerlessness was the focus of the trade tinguishes this form of unionism from busi-
union debate in South Africa in the early ness unionism. Seidman (1994: 199), in
1970s. Analysis of the 50-year history of non- considering the extension of factory-based
racial unions revealed phases of expansion demands into the political arena, concludes:
followed by decline. Labor historians con- [T]hat question – what led unions and communities
cluded that there were two fundamental to interpret their interests in parallel terms and to
flaws: mass mobilization was not consoli- participate in joint campaigns against both employ-
dated into workplace organization; structures ers and the state – is perhaps the key to understand-
ing the meaning of social-movement unionism.
of leadership accountability were weak,
resulting in instances of corruption that Referring to Castells’City and the Grass Roots,
divided the new unions. This led to the she notes that this workplace-community
advancement of a concept of internal democ- interface ‘is hardly a straightforward process’
racy centered on worker control that was con- (Seidman, 1994: 199). Labor movements
sciously anti-bureaucratic in its thrust. generally avoid direct involvement in com-
Workers would form a majority on all struc- munity campaigns, focusing instead on the
tures and elected, paid officials would have workplace, while urban social movements
no vote. An open organizational culture of tend to avoid a class-based rhetoric that
accountability and mandates was stressed. might alienate the middle class.