The ‘iron law of oligarchy’ and North-South relations in global union organisations : a case study of the International Dockworkers Council’s expansion in the Global South

Global union organisations face recurrent organisational challenges concerning 1) the tendency towards bureaucratisation and oligarchy as trade unions operate at increasing scales and 2) the tendency to reinscribe unequal relations of power between trade unions in the Global North and the Global South. This double problem facing the global trade union movement is investigated through a case study of the International Dockworkers Council (IDC), an independent global union organisation, which underwent a period of rapid expansion in the Global South, particularly in Latin America, in the 2010’s. The IDC has been remarkably successful in adapting its organisational model, developed in Europe, to the Latin American context, building an effective regional-level organisation on the principle of ‘bottom-up’ rank-and-file activism while relying more heavily than in Europe on a regional coordinator as denser relationships among activists in the regional network develop. At the same time, at the global level, the story is somewhat more mixed. Latin American activists have the autonomy to develop and carry out their own priorities with appropriate financial, industrial and technical support from the global organisation. Yet, the influence of the Global South on shaping the global organisation as a whole is less evident. In addition, organisational changes brought about as a result of global expansion raise concerns about bureaucratisation and oligarchy at the global level.