MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Union organisation is often very complex and those in their top
echelons have to consider the management of the democratic process,
representing the interests of many of the most significant stakeholders
in their unions. The theory of polyarchy recognises that unions consist
of a variety of interest groups and individuals with legitimate interests in
those unions. Yet, the suggestion that senior officials should in any
respect manage any part of the democratic process would be regarded
as an affront by many academics writing in the trade union field. One
such academic walked out of the room when the researcher made such
an implication at an academic conference. Stakeholder management,
however, does not imply that managers are assuming powers or
responsibilities which belong more properly to the members or their
elected representatives. It suggests that thought is being given to how
(inter alia) the democratic process might work better or staff in the
union working with the members might empower the membership.
Modes of management in such circumstances might arise from a
manager’s deeply held belief in trade unionism, in fairness, justice,
equality and unity. In literature from the management, as distinct from
the trade union, field this might be described as normative stakeholder
management.
This study is researching managerial activities in trade unions.
Originally, the study was much more closely concerned with the
management of mergers, so it was natural that, in considering which
unions to study, there should be concentration on unions which had
merged. As the study changed, this focus was kept for a different
reason. The extent of managerial activities in unions other than the
researcher’s own were simply not known. As mentioned earlier, what
was assumed was that, in bringing unions together in merger,
somebody had to manage something. Four merged unions were
therefore chosen.
CWU
The Communications Workers Union was formed in 1995 from the
merger of the Union of Communications Workers (UCW) and the
National Communications Union (NCU). Both unions had their origins
in the Post Office, when that organisation ran Post Office
Telecommunications (now BT) and the Post Office. The UCW was
predominantly a blue collar union and the NCU was mixed blue and
white collar – it had itself merged in 1985 with a section of CPSA white
collar workers working in the Post Office. Those members had retained
a good deal of autonomy within NCU, which became an issue when the
CWU was formed because they wanted to retain as much of that
autonomy as possible.
There was a long history of rivalry between UCW and NCU over many
years. Merger only came on the agenda when Alan Johnson became
General Secretary of UCW and Tony Young became General
Secretary of NCU. They were close personally and politically and were
very influential in bringing the merger about. There were, however,
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