Solidarity unionism is a model of labour organizing in which the workers themselves formulate strategy and take action against the company directly without mediation from government or paid union representatives. It is a key pillar of
anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence i ...
. Organizations which use the model of solidarity unionism, such as the
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines gener ...
, state that putting power directly into the hands of the workers prevents an otherwise inevitable crust of bureaucrats from forming within the organization.
Meet the « Comité Syndicaliste Révolutionaire (CSR) » , Industrial Workers of the World
/ref> This is why organizations which use the solidarity unionism model often refer to other sorts of labour organizing as bureaucratic unionism.
Notes
See also
*Anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence i ...
Industrial Workers of the World
Employee relations
Trade unions in the United States
Syndicalism
{{Trade-union-stub