Neoliberal labour governments and the union response : the politics of the end of labourism / Jason Schulman

"Exploring divergences in the choice of neoliberal policies by labour party governments in New Zealand, Australia, and Britain, this book challenges common explanations of the embrace of neoliberalism by social democratic parties. It argues that the diminishing influence of labour unions within these parties is the result of a lack of strategy on the part of the union movement itself. Be it due to a lack of interest by the unions in engaging in politics or a passivity resulting from years of anti-union Conservative rule, Union interests particularly in New Zealand and Great Britain have been neglected by party leadership when formulating policies. In contrast, it poses the Australian example as one in which the unions were sufficiently united, disciplined, and strategically minded to ensure that a Labor Party government integrated them into the making of policy. The book lays bare the Australasian "roots" of Britain's New Labour era. In an age in which the macroeconomic, industrial, and social policies of social democratic parties have so often moved to the right, this book asks the question: how can trade unions retain some measure of control over the policies of the parties that are ostensibly theirs"--