ABSTRACT
This chapter will show that the million-plus-member Amalgamated Union of Engineering and Foundry Workers (AUEW), formerly known as the AEU, also meets most of the criteria for non-oligarchy and for a moderately stringent conception of valid opposition. It thus constitutes a critical case, as did the Mineworkers. The democratic national union is like the mentally healthy person in that the recognition of either is difficult: the criteria for illness are more fully developed than the criteria for health. We will therefore describe the Engineers' political system and show the character of opposition within it, while making liberal use of those specific measures of the success of opposition already utilised in our study of the Mineworkers. This study will cover the same period and include the elec tion of the present president, Hugh Scanlon. The Engineers have had close competition in the filling of top and other vacancies for over fifty years - indeed, if one includes the union's predecessor which had many similar features, for over 120.
