Labor Aristocracy?

[Rusty Shackleford]

what does this mean? can someone please give me a brief explanation? ill go ahead and google it right now but id like to hear from you all as well. thanks.

[Kléber]

There are a couple definitions. One is to refer to the bureaucrats and officials in a trade union who make a living as professional organizers and negotiators, and have historically been easy for the bourgeoisie to bribe and co-opt into supporting company unions. Hence they become "labor aristocrats." The term has also been used to apply to the working class as a whole in imperialist countries since as they were "bought off" to some extent by the fact that their governments had massive influx of colonial super-profits and could therefore afford to enact social reforms to curb dissent in the metropole. Similar to the first definition, it is sometimes used to refer to bureaucrats in a "socialist" country like the USSR who will even sell their "union" to the bosses of the world if it makes them a profit.