THE ELECTORAL INFLUENCE OF THE OPPOSITION PARTY IN THE A.U.E.W. ENGINEERING SECTION 1960–75
| Date | 01 March 1979 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.1979.tb00624.x |
| Author | R. Undy |
| Published date | 01 March 1979 |
THE ELECTORAL INFLUENCE
OF
THE OPPOSITION PARTY
R.
UNDY*
IN THE A.U.E.W. ENGINEERING SECTION
1960-75
INTRODUCTION
This paper' focuses
on
the electoral factors influencing political changes in composi-
tion
of
the national government
of
the Amalgamated Engineering Union (A.E.U.),
later the Engineering Section
of
the Amalgamated Engineering and Foundry Workers
Union (A.E.F.) and later still the Engineering Section
of
the Amalgamated Union of the
Engineering Workers, between 1960 and 1975. Although the name
of
the Union
changed, due to amalgamations, the decision-making process
of
the Union and section,
apart from the introduction
of
postal ballots, remained reasonably constant.
The
Union
or
section can therefore be referred to throughout this paper, despite the changes
in
title, as the Engineers
or
just the Union.
Between 1960 and 1975 there were some I80 elected full-time officials
in
the
Engineers from District Secretary to National President. These officials all faced elec-
tions every three years initially and then
every
five
years until
the
age
of
sixty, when
having fought two elections, they remained
in
office until they retired at sixty-five. The
elections were fought at branch level (some 2,000 branches)
until
the introduction of
postal ballots in 1972. If no one candidate had an overall majority of the first ballot the
two with the highest number
of
vdtes progressed to a final ballot.
All
the Engineers
eligible-over a million-were entitled
to
vote.
It
will
be argued here that the results
of
the Engineers' elections were influenced on a
number
of
occasions
in
the 1960s and early 1970s by the activities
of
two highly
organised and ideologically opposed electoral organisat ions which, having many of the
trappingsof parties, are worthy
of
that title. Moreover it will also be shown that national
elections in general and
two
elections
for
vacant seats
of
outstanding political signifi-
cance in particular, were. to a large degree, determined by the opposition party's
electoral activities. The central point
of
the argument
will
be that the unconstitutional
and hence uninstitutionalised opposition party succeeded
in
elections primarily because
it organised intensely in a small number
of
relatively high polling branches; hence
moving the composition
of
the Union's main governing bodies towards the left be-
tween 1960 and 1975. Thus even though the established leadership has its own elec-
toral machine the opposition's influence on elections provides the focal point
of
this
paper.
If the detailed analysis
of
opposition activity establishes the existence
of
party the
Engineers' Union will be,
on
the most stringent criteria, as stated by Lipset
er
af.,'
a
democratic union. The establishment
of
such an opposition party will also however
stand
in
contradistinction to several recent studies of the Engineers. Edelstein3
in
the
mid-1960scame to the conclusion, for instance, that there was
no
factional organisation
in the Union comparable with that found
in
American unions. In his opinion the main
reason for this
lay
in the rule which limited campaign literature and the political
traditions
it
represented. More recently the same author
in
partnership with Warner
(1975)' also commented, after examining factional activity
in
the Union, that
'.
.
.
the
Engineers' close elections are
nor
the result
of
a two-party system'? and they chose
evidence
to
indicate
'.
,
.
the absence
of
a two-party system, and probably
of
a party
system
of
any kind,
.
.'?And finally they concluded that 'the level
of
success
of
electoral
Fellow, Oxford Centre for Management Studies.
19
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