Business unionism

A business union is a type of trade union that is opposed to class or revolutionary unionism and has the principle that unions should be run like businesses.

Business unions are believed to be of American origin. and the term has been applied in particular to phenomena characteristic of American unions. Hyman (1973) attributed the term "business unionism" to Hoxie, but Michael Goldfield (1987) notes that the term was in common usage before Hoxie published in 1915.

According to Goldfield, Hoxie used the term to describe trade-consciousness, rather than class-consciousness; in other words, according to Hoxie, business unionists were advocates of "pure and simple" trade unionism, as opposed to class or revolutionary unionism. This sort of business unionism is what Eugene Debs often referred to as the "old unionism".

One major characteristic of "business unionism" is the principle that unions should be run like businesses. These unions would be organized as top-down hierarchies, with dedicated employees paid in a stratified way. Business unionism creates a centralized bureaucracy that is independent from and unaccountable to the union . The "union rep", who earns more than the union workers, is a key element of this structure.

According to this model, the main 'battleground' for organized labour moves from the shop floor to the boardroom, where well-paid business leaders of the union negotiate with well-paid bosses of the company.

The members of a union's identity is defined by their craft. They feel a solidarity towards their fellow co-workers as opposed to the greater working class. The unions adopt an exclusive policy as opposed to inclusive one. This can cause a fragmentation of workers. The unions are more inclined to fight against reorganization of work by their employers. Business unions are sometimes not inclined to expand their membership and organize outside workers.

The unions only view their goal to protect immediate economic interests. These economic interests are restricted to getting higher wages, better working conditions, and job security. "In other words, the horizon of union action is straight-forward and short-term: to produce constant and immediate improvements in the material conditions of union members' lives." Business unions also do not seek worker input into technological changes that change the structure of the companies that employ workers. The result is an intense focus on the collective bargaining process, conducted according to rigid specifications.

This outlook can be contrasted with social unionism, a union movement which seeks to improve life overall for workers—for example by struggling against racial discrimination in the workplace.

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