Abstract
How do union members come to identify with a broader “community of fate” over time? Under what circumstances can the experience of union membership expand members’ notions of self-interest to encompass significant collective actions undertaken in solidarity with others? And what roles do leaders, governance structures, internal communications, and education programs play in promoting such transformations? Sociologists Ahlquist and Levi turn to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and its counterparts in hopes of answering these and other enduring questions about “Why and how . . . some organizations produce membership willing to self-sacrifice on behalf of a wide range of political and social justice issues?” (p. 1).
Labor educators and labor studies scholars will find this book’s themes fascinating, though readers should be aware that the book is not directed at a generalist audience. Cumbersome disciplinary scaffolding may prove frustrating for nonsociologists, but those willing to wade through the jargon (or perhaps bypass the second chapter’s dense enumeration of hypotheses and accompanying equations) will be rewarded with a combination of intriguing examples and provocative arguments for how organizational structures, pivotal moments of transition, and leadership commitments can definitively shape union culture.
The book includes rich illustrations (some well known and others less so) of ILWU members’ engagement in sometimes extraordinary collective actions in support of struggles not directly connected to their own immediate interests. Opening sections present examples in support of authors’ initial hypothesis that “sustained political mobilization requires an ideologically motivated founding leadership cohort who devises organizational rules that facilitate both industrial success and coordinated expectations about the leaders’ political objectives.” Authors argue for the centrality of leaders’ roles in creating conditions under which members will “go along” with broader union campaigns because “they are convinced that they are receiving the material benefits the organization promised,” they feel leaders are accountable, and they believe enough others are also “going along” (p. 6).
Authors later complicate this hypothesis by turning to questions of how—beyond simply responding to leaders’ directives—members develop their own political consciousness and sense of agency through workplace dialogue, exposure to union education (including union history), and participation in collective action. Some of the book’s most revealing insights are drawn from interview excerpts featuring members’ reflections on how union culture nurtured their development as activists. Yet even having acknowledged members’ agency in choosing how and when to act (and whether to seek leadership themselves), authors ultimately attribute such outcomes to top leaders’ choices to devote (or withhold) resources for the provision of education and information that promotes political learning (pp. 273, 276).
The book features comparative evidence from other “transport sector” unions—the Teamsters, the International Longshore Association (ILA), and the Australian Waterside Workers Federation (WWF)—though the utility of these comparisons is sometimes limited by reliance on overly stark dichotomies between “politically activist” and “business” unions. Authors establish a clear rationale for choosing the Teamsters (from 1907 to 1970s) and the ILA as foils for the “activist” ILWU and WWF, but subsequent sweeping assertions about what each “type” of union does (e.g., that business unions consistently “refuse to ask their members to engage in broader political causes” whereas activist unions are always democratic or focused on empowering members) sometimes ring false (p. 178).
Such generalizations likewise lead to a sometimes one-dimensional depiction of the ILWU which, for all of its “activist” tendencies, clearly retains features often associated with “business” unionism. Indeed, the authors’ central thesis is compelling in part because it underscores the need for leaders of intensely “activist” unions to maintain high standards for core servicing functions such as collective bargaining, grievance administration, and protection of member jobs and benefits (what the authors call “delivering the goods”) to secure levels of trust and commitment necessary to seek more political “rents” when calling on members to engage in coordinated social or political action. Ahlquist and Levi’s book does many things, but one of its more useful interventions is highlighting the need to move beyond simplistic “servicing vs. organizing” or “business vs. social unionism” categories that too often hobble analysis of the rich interdependence among these dimensions of organizational function.
Last, the book’s convincing argument that founding structures, ideological commitments, and pivotal leadership transitions can define an organization’s culture for decades raises challenging questions about how and when change might become possible within large, established organizations, especially those saddled with founding structures or norms designed to limit internal democracy. In the Interest of Others is an analytical and not prescriptive tome. But its conclusions clearly suggest that for leaders who seek to foster cultures of activist solidarity within today’s labor movement, critical assessment of inherited organizational structures—and willingness to consider fundamental changes to them—must become a priority.