Can party-led trade unions represent their members?

Abstract

This article examines the implications of party leadership for the ability of trade unions to represent the interests of their members by comparing the cases of China and Vietnam, where the trade unions are under the leadership of the Communist Party, with that of Russia, where the trade unions have been politically independent for almost two decades. The article examines the changing role of trade unions in the transition from a command to a capitalist economy and the pressures for trade union reform from above and below. The key finding is that the form and extent of independent worker activism, and the response of the state to such activism, are a much more significant determinant of trade union development than is the legal and institutional framework of industrial relations, while the main barriers to trade union reform are the inertia of the trade union apparatus and the dependence of primary union organisations on management.

Acknowledgement

This article is based on the interim findings of a research project on ‘Post-Socialist Trade Unions, Low Pay and Decent Work: Russia, China and Vietnam’ funded by the Economic and Social Research Council within its Non-Governmental Public Action Programme (Grant RES-155-25-0071). For further details on Russian trade unions see Ashwin and Clarke (2002) and Clarke (2007). On China see Taylor et al. (2003) and Clarke et al. (2004), Clarke (2005). On Vietnam see Clarke (2006) and Clarke et al. (2007).