Book Reviews : Trade Union Foreign Policy: A Study of the Activities of American and British Trade Unions in the Caribbean. By JEFFEREY HARROD. (New York: Double day, Anchor Books, 1972. Pp. 485. $3.95.)
| Author | David Howard Davis |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591297402700437 |
| Published date | 01 December 1974 |
| Date | 01 December 1974 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
772
Trade
Union
Foreign
Policy:
A
Study
of
the
Activities
of
American
and
British
Trade
Unions
in
the
Caribbean.
By
JEFFEREY
HARROD.
(New
York:
Double-
day,
Anchor
Books,
1972.
Pp. 485.
$3.95.)
&dquo;The
Bustamante
Industrial
Trade
Union?&dquo;
his
labor
movement
rivals
taunt-
ed
Alexander
Bustamante
in
mock
surprise.
&dquo;Who
ever
heard
of
a
union
named
for
its
founder?&dquo;
Such
jibes
did
not
daunte
Bustamante;
neither
did
the
fact
that
his
trade
union
was
not
industrial.
Social
pioneers
succeed
by
ignoring
even
valid
criticism
from
those
lacking
their
charismatic
vision.
Harrod’s
book
is,
of
course,
more
than
the
chronicles
of
the
flamboyant
Bustamante;
his
rival,
the
aristocratic
Norman
Manley;
the
four
H’s
(Hart,
Henry,
Hill
and
Hill) ;
and
the
other
leaders
of
the
Jamaican
trade
union
movement.
It
is
a
case
study
designed
to
test
structural-functional
theories
of
political
development.
The
author’s
basic
thesis
is
that
Jamaican
trade
unions
were
largely
shaped
in
imitation
of
British
and
American
models.
The
two
chief
institutions
impinging
on
the
island
were
the
British
Trades
Union
Congress
(TUC)
and
the
United
Steelworkers
of
America
(USWA) .
Harrod
asks
not
only
how
the
foreign
unions
influenced
their
Jamaican
counterparts,
but
also
why
they
sought
to
do
so.
The
TUC
intervened
because
Jamaica
was
a
British
colony
and
because
of
an
ideologi-
cal
commitment.
The
USWA
intervened
because
the
American
and
Canadian
aluminum
industry
was
highly
dependent
on
Jamaican
bauxite
ore.
In
analyzing
the
international
linkages
among
trade
unions
the
author
begins
to
fill
a
conspicuous
gap
in
foreign
policy
literature.
Much
attention
has
been
paid
recently
to
the
role
of
the
multinational
corporation.
Multinational
labor
is
the
obvious
corollary.
Harrod
further
calls
for
corresponding
assessment
of
the
role
of
multinational
churches.
In
evaluating
the
impact
of
British
and
American
unions
on
the
Jamaican
movement
this
study
earns
high
marks
for
thoroughness.
Harrod
sets
the
movement
in
its
political,
social
and
cultural
context,
tracing
it
from
the
worker
riots
of
1937-38
through
1967.
In
recounting
its
history,
the
author
astutely
emphasizes
the
importance
of
imitation
of
foreign
values
and
institutions,
and
the
tensions
this
created
when
the
alien
models
did
not
mesh
with
local
needs.
The
chief
problem
with
the
analysis
is
that
structural-functionalism
proves
to
be
an
unsatisfactory
theoretical
framework.
The
connection
between
the
func-
tions
and
the
structures
is
so
vague
as
to
be
without
utility.
The
use
of
the
model
appears
strained
and
artificial
-
or
worse,
irrelevant.
The
author
would
have
done
better
to
have
rendered
less
homage
to
structural-functionalism
and
more
analysis
to
the
international
and
intercultural
transmission
of
ideas
and
institutions.
The
next
problem
is
that
the
evaluation
of
labor
unions
is
not
sufficiently
tied
into
domestic
politics.
Harrod
notes
almost
incidentally
that
Bustamante
(by
then
Sir
Alexander)
became
the
opposition
leader
in
Parliament
and
that
his
life
long
trade
union
adversary,
Manley,
became
Prime
Minister.
Surely
the
impact
of
this
on
the
union
movement
deserved
more
complete
discussion.
A
third
weakness
is
neglect
of
the
economic
dimension.
While
the
author’s
contention
that
the
shift
from
the
British
TUC
model
to
the
North American
USWA
model
implies
an
ascendance
of
market
over
ideology,
this
conclusion
is
not
well
supported
by
facts
and
statistics.
Finally
the
book
does
not
bring
the
reader
up
to
date.
Though
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