I think that's a bit out of date, certainly for Britain. It is true (as I said before) that British unions in the post-war period were fiercely nationalistic. But nowadays most unions are concerned with equal opportunity policies, black representation and so on. The Transport and General Workers Union has made much of the question of the seniority of black staff on the London Underground. Its General Secretary is black. Public sector unions especially are very much tied up with the local authority's concern to balance representation in the workforce, often in ways that tend to exacerbate divisions.
In their book Age of Insecurity, Larry Elliott and Dan Atkisnon, two eonommics writers on the leftish Guardian newspaper make an interesting comparison:
'the shrunken trade unions have themselves been transformed to a great extent into middlemen for the legal profession, packagaing up possible cases involving their members and bringing them to the lawyers. These days a union official is more likely to be found warming himself by the fire in a barrister's chambers ...than rubbing his hands over a picket- line Brazier'
They ask the question whether 'the two phenomenon - the brutal "downsizing" and the "historic" courtroom win - can ... coexist permanently within the same economic and legal system'
They go on to contrast the position in the seventies with that of today. indicating that 'unfair dismissal law was in its infancy' and 'Firing someone for falling pregnant or "coming out" may have been fairly easy, but firing someone on the sole grounds that the employer would be able to make more money without him was a very different business'. Today they suggest those roles are reversed, and unfair dismissal laws are much stronger, including racial discrimination, whilst union power is collectively much weaker.
Verso, p 103. -- Jim heartfield