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“We will never forget 1964!” Shopfloor Organisation and the Class Politics of Trade Union Officials at General Motors‐Holden
Author(s) -
Tierney Robert
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
australian journal of politics and history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.123
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-8497
pISSN - 0004-9522
DOI - 10.1111/ajph.12368
Subject(s) - bureaucracy , conservatism , context (archaeology) , politics , political science , trade union , law , political economy , law and economics , public administration , sociology , economics , history , labour economics , archaeology
The article outlines the theory of contingent bureaucratic conservatism of trade union officials, which contends that elected officials represent a conservative stratum in the class struggle. The article also examines arguments made by those who oppose it, partly on the basis that it does not stand up to rigorous empirical analysis. The article tests the theory in the context of the important dispute at General Motors‐Holden's in Australia in October 1964. The events which emerged in the strike demonstrated the unwillingness of the union officials, conservative, moderate and Left alike, to support the strikers at General Motors‐Holden's during the final stages of the dispute, and validates the theory of contingent bureaucratic conservatism of union officials.