Trade unions declined because they stayed locked into the Fordist model

Evidence

It seems to me that trade unions were successful in the past, as I’ve said, because of Fordism. The collapse of Fordism, that’s made the way trade unions operate more difficult. But that doesn’t mean that no form of workers organisation couldn’t work effectively now. But I do think we need imagination and a real shift from the Fordist paradigm. Having been an active trade union member in points in my life, I’ve seen the extent to which higher echelons of trade unions are still orientated around — many of them are still orientated around Fordism, around pay and strikes. I saw this particularly with teaching. Many of the issues that I describe in the book — the problems of observations, of bureaucracy, of self-surveillance — these are things that teachers are kind of passionate about, which unions have a very limited interest in. I think shifting the terrain of struggle onto things that matter to people is a way of re-engaging them. There’s no reason, in my view, why trade unions themselves couldn’t become major players again if they’re prepared to shift, very belatedly, into the post-Fordist world. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2159

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Working-class solidarity decomposed partly because unions were locked to a Fordist model. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 2106; Capital absorbed workers’ own desire to escape Fordist routine, trapping the left — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1405; Union decline reflects weakened attachment to membership itself, not unions specifically — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 267 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• US unions traded bargaining power for collaboration with Fordist production #corroborates (0.88) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 798
• Union decline reflects weakened attachment to membership itself, not unions specifically #complicates (0.85) — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 267
• Capitalism co-opted workers’ own desire for emancipation from the Fordist factory #complicates (0.84)
• Capital co-opted workers’ own desire for liberation from Fordist routine #complicates (0.84) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 74
• Capital absorbed workers’ own desire to escape Fordist routine, trapping the left #complicates (0.82) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1405
• Neoliberalism succeeded by capturing workers’ desire to escape Fordist strictures #complicates (0.80) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1504
• Post-Fordist restructuring was partly driven by workers’ own desires for freedom #qualifies (0.78) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2100
• Trade unions can be co-opted to contain working-class opposition #expands (0.76)
• Union decline cannot be blamed mainly on industrial-to-service economic shifts #qualifies (0.74) — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 265