The Pattern of Opposition in British and American Unions

Abstract

A survey of the extent of electoral opposition for top posts in 31 British, and 51 American unions of manual workers reveals great differences between and within the two countries, with more competition or opposition than might have been expected. An examination of organizational differences between the two sets of unions leads to the conclusion that most of the formal differences might be expected to generate more opposition in the British cases than in the American. While there are somewhat more defeats of incumbents in American unions, there is significantly more opposition in British unions as measured by the closeness of electoral contests, for vacant posts in particular. However, openly organized factionalism in the American case proliferates to a degree unknown in British unions.