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democratic era with an edge over new unions and use these advantages to sustain their dominant
position in the democratic era.
However, not all historical legacies are beneficial. Legacy unions often inherit undemocratic
internal structures and dead wood in leadership positions. Reforming legacy unions involves creating
governance structures that allow members to change the leadership at all levels of the union. Of
course, old leaders are usually reluctant to step aside, so changing these governance structures rarely
happens overnight. Status quo leaders will obstruct changes to union constitutions that empower the
base through direct elections for leaders, and will select representation formulas and nominating
procedures that facilitate the continuation of their power. The pressure to reform is nevertheless
urgent, since freedom of association introduces a competitive dynamic into the labor arena.
Members, in theory, are free to leave legacy unions and to form their own unions or to affiliate with
other unions. Competition from other unions and the threat of membership exit should provide a
powerful incentive for legacy unions to reform.
At the dawn of democratization, legacy unions inevitably experience a shedding of members,
as disgruntled or opportunistic national leaders exit to form rival unions. Membership loss can be
considerable at this stage, as national leaders, through relations with regional, local, and enterprise
union officials, convince numerous affiliates to break away. After these initial losses, exit slows
considerably and usually takes the form of individual affiliates fleeing to a competitor. In most new
democracies with legacy unions, the legacy union remains the largest and most influential union
confederation in the country, even after a decade of democracy. Legacy unions often recover from
the initial loss of members and show unexpected tenacity in a less amenable political setting.
How do legacy unions do this? Do they hang onto members through enacting radical
internal reforms, through less honorable means, or through some combination of the two? Or is
their continued success also partially a result of broader developments in labor regulation in these
Convention