• DOI:10.5263/LABOURHISTORY.98.1.55
• Corpus ID: 152364613

The Ties that Unwind? Social Democratic Parties and Unions in Australia and Britain

@article{Lavelle2010TheTT,
  title={The Ties that Unwind? Social Democratic Parties and Unions in Australia and Britain},
  author={Ashley Lavelle},
  journal={Labour History},
  year={2010},
  volume={98},
  pages={55-75}
}

• Ashley Lavelle
• Published 1 May 2010
• Political Science, Economics
• Labour History

The ties between social democratic parties and trade unions in recent years have been stretched almost to breaking point. Drawing on evidence from the experience of Australia and Britain, this article argues that a turning point in the deterioration of the relationship was the collapse of the post-war economic boom. This event was important because it ruptured the economic foundations of the policy base of social democracy and led to the adoption by social democratic parties of a pro-business neo-liberal policy framework aimed at restoring rates of investment and profi tability. In turn, this new policy emphasis necessarily threatened the interests of organised labour. The current tension in relations is therefore not merely a refl ection of the pressures associated with social democrats being in government. Rather, it is rooted in the gradual decline of the health of capitalism since the 1970s – a trend unlikely to be reversed in the near future. A close relationship with trade unions is among ‘the characteristic features of social democratic parties’. 1 Focusing on the experience of Australia and Britain, this article argues that social democratic parties, as a result of fostering closer ties with capital and implementing more pro-business policies in recent decades, have become more distant from unions and implemented policies deleterious to interests of organised labour. While unions remain important to the parties organisationally, the distance politically between the two has widened to the point where unions are expected to lobby ‘their’ government just like any other interest group in a so-called ‘pluralist’ society. Party leaders do not conceive of themselves as part of a wider ‘labour movement’ – representing the interests of labour is not on their agenda. Rifts have developed between the wings before, but a degree of permanency about the situation has now set in. Moreover, there is little prospect of a return to a more traditional social democratic policy model that would satisfy union policy preferences but also imply a greater inclusion of organised labour in party leaders’ considerations. The article suggests that central to this process has been the shift to a more pro-business policy approach, which in turn was based on the need to revive rates of business accumulation and profi tability when the post-war boom ended abruptly in 1974. The transition to a neo-liberal policy framework – which includes, crucially, labour market deregulation – was always going to have a negative impact on unions, which were effectively a speed-bump on the road to neo-liberalism. It is this commitment to a pro-business, anti-labour policy framework that stands in the way of detente. The article is divided into two sections: the fi rst describes the process of growing political separation between parties and unions, while the second analyses the domestic and international forces driving the process.