Globalisation and trade unions: towards a multi-level strategy?

Ronaldo Munck, null

doi:10.13169/workorgalaboglob.2.1.0011

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Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Volume 2, Issue 1

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Globalisation and trade unions: towards a multi-level strategy?

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Author(s): Ronaldo Munck

Publication date (Print): Spring 2008

Journal: Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

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Abstract

International trade unionism is facing a serious challenge from what is commonly called globalisation. Trade unions feel the need to ‘scale up’ their activities beyond their, once paramount, national terrain and to challenge capital's untrammelled forward march internationalising and commodifying everything in its path. This article examines the new forms of labour internationalism and the way in which trade unions have been creating incipient counter-hegemonic strategies. The only certainty in this globalised and complex situation is that a continuation of national era trade union strategies is not a viable path. A possible ‘transformationalist’ alternative is posed in this paper, arguing that labour needs a multi-layered and flexible response to the new global capitalist order.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): workorgalaboglob

Title: Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 1745641X

ISSN (Electronic): 17456428

Publication date (Print): Spring 2008

Volume: 2

Issue: 1

Pages: 11-23

Article

Publisher ID: workorgalaboglob.2.1.0011

DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.2.1.0011

SO-VID: 8fcf9f5c-0667-4a3a-9dcc-aaf9ccf99c12

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Sociology,Labor law,Political science,Labor & Demographic economics,Political economics

References

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Castells, M. (1997) The Power of Identity Vol II of The Information Age , Oxford: Blackwell
Castree, N. (2000) ‘Geographic Scales and Grass-Roots Internationalism: The Liverpool Docks Dispute, 1995–1998’, Economic Geography , 76(3):272–92
Clawson, D. (2003) The Next Upsurge. Labor and the New Social Movements , Ithaca and London: ILR Press, Cornell University Press
Clawson, D. et al. (2004) Symposium: The Next Upsurge: Labor and the New Social Movements, Labor History , Vol 45 No.2:333–382
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Dunn, B (2006) ‘Globalisation, Labour and the State’ in C. Phelan (ed) The Future of Organised Labour. Labour Perspectives , Oxford: Peter Lang
Fairbrother, P & N. Hammer (2005) ‘Global Unions. Past Efforts and Future Prospects’, Relations Industrielles/ Industrial Relations , 60(3):405–28.
Freeman, R. (2006) ‘China, India and the Doubling of the Global Labor Force: Who Pays the Price of Globalization?’ Retrieved on December 1, 2007 from http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=8617
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Johnston, W. (1991) ‘Global Work Force 2000: The New World Labor Market’, Harvard Business Review , March-April:115–127
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Wood, E.M. (ed) (1997) Rising from the Ashes? Labor in the Age of ‘Global’ Capitalism , New York: Monthly Review:49

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Broad, R. (2004) ‘The Washington Consensus Meets the Global Backlash: Shifting Debates and Policies’ Globalizations , 1(2):129–54

[2] Castells, M. (1997) The Power of Identity Vol II of The Information Age , Oxford: Blackwell

[3] Castree, N. (2000) ‘Geographic Scales and Grass-Roots Internationalism: The Liverpool Docks Dispute, 1995–1998’, Economic Geography , 76(3):272–92

[4] Clawson, D. (2003) The Next Upsurge. Labor and the New Social Movements , Ithaca and London: ILR Press, Cornell University Press

[5] Clawson, D. et al. (2004) Symposium: The Next Upsurge: Labor and the New Social Movements, Labor History , Vol 45 No.2:333–382

[6] Dølnik, J. E. (2001) European Trade Unions: Coping with Globalisation? Fafo Paper. Retrieved on December 1, 2007 from http://www.fafo.no/pub/rapp/675/675.htm

[7] Dunn, B (2006) ‘Globalisation, Labour and the State’ in C. Phelan (ed) The Future of Organised Labour. Labour Perspectives , Oxford: Peter Lang

[8] Fairbrother, P & N. Hammer (2005) ‘Global Unions. Past Efforts and Future Prospects’, Relations Industrielles/ Industrial Relations , 60(3):405–28.

[9] Freeman, R. (2006) ‘China, India and the Doubling of the Global Labor Force: Who Pays the Price of Globalization?’ Retrieved on December 1, 2007 from http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=8617

[10] Gramsci, A. (1971) Selections from the Prison Notebooks , London: Lawrence and Wishart

[11] Gumbrell-McCormick, R. (2004) ‘Putting the Labor into Labor Standards’, Labor History , Vol 45 No.4 No.4:522–29

[12] Harrod, J. & R. O'Brien, R (2002) ‘Organised labour and the global political economy’ in J. Harrod and R. O'Brien (eds) Global Unions? Theory and strategies of organised labour in the global political economy , London: Routledge

[13] Haworth, N. & S. Hughes (2002) ‘International labour and regional integration in the Asia-Pacific’, in J. Harrod & R. O' Brien (eds) Global Unions? Theory and strategies of organised labour in the global political economy , London: Routledge

[14] Held, D., A. McGrew, D. Goldblatt & J. Perraton (1999) Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture , Cambridge: Polity Press

[15] Herod, A (2001) Labor Geographies, Workers and the Landscapes of Capitalism , New York & London: The Guildford Press

[16] Hyman, R. (2004) ‘Agitation, Organisation, Diplomacy, Bureaucracy: Trends and Dilemmas in International Trade Unionism’, Labor History , 45(3)

[17] ICEM (1999) Facing Global Power: Strategies for Global Unionism , Durban: Second World Congress

[18] ICFTU (1997) The Global Market: Trade Unionisms Greatest Challenge , Brussels: ICFTU

[19] ICFTU (2007) ‘Strength in unity: a new international trade union confederation is born’. Retrieved on December 1, 2007 from http://www.icftu.org

[20] IMF (2007) World Economic Outlook. Spillovers and Cycles in the Global Economy . Retrieved on December 1, 2007 from http://www.imf.org

[21] Johnston, W. (1991) ‘Global Work Force 2000: The New World Labor Market’, Harvard Business Review , March-April:115–127

[22] Jonas, A. (1998) ‘Investigating the Local-Global Paradox’ in A. Herod (ed) Organizing the Landscape: Geographical Perspectives on Labor Unionism , Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press

[23] Lambert, R. (2002) ‘Labour movement renewal in the era of globalization: union responses in the South’ in J. Harrod and R. O'Brien (eds) Global Unions? Theory and strategies of organised labour in the global political economy , London: Routledge

[24] Mangabeira Unger, R. (1998) Democracy Realized: The Progressive Alternative , London: Verso

[25] Moody, K. (1997) Workers in a Lean World: Unions in the International Economy , London: Zed Books

[26] Morgan, O. (2006) ‘Birth of the first global super-union’, Observer (December 31^st)

[27] Munck, R. (2002a) Globalisation and Labour: The new ‘Great Transformation’ , London: Zed Books.

[28] Munck, R. (2002b) ‘Globalization, regionalism and Labour: The case of MERCOSUR’, Labour, Capital and Society , 34 (1):8–25

[29] Myconos, G. (2005) The Globalization of Organised Labour:1914–2005 , Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

[30] Ramsay, P. (1999) ‘In Search of International Union Theory’ in Waddington, J (ed) Globalisation and Patterns of Labour Resistance London: Mansell & New York

[31] Sassen, S (2006) Territory Authority Rights – From Medieval to Global Assemblages , Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press

[32] Saul, J.R. (2006) The Collapse of Globalism and the Reinvention of the World , London: Atlantic Books

[33] Stevis, D. (1998) ‘International Labor Organizations, 1864–1997’, in D. Gallin (ed) Journal of World-Systems Research , Vol IV No.1:52–75

[34] Stevis, D. & T. Boswell (2008) Globalization and Labor: Democratizing Global Governance , Lanham: Rowland and Littlefield

[35] Urry, J. (2000) Global Complexity , Cambridge: Polity Press

[36] van der Linden, M. (2003a) Transnational Labour History: Explorations , Aldershot: Ashgate

[37] van der Linden, M. (2003b) ‘The ICFTU at the Crossroads: An Historical Interpretation’. Paper delivered to Labour and New Social Movements in a Globalising World System: The Future of the Past, conference, Linz: September

[38] Waterman, P. et al.. (2005) ‘Symposium: Labor and the New Social Movements’, Labor History , Vol 46 No.2:195–244

[39] Waterman, P. (2007) International Unions Embrace the World Social Forum: Opportunities and. … Limitations? mimeo

[40] Webster, E., R. Lambert & A. Bezuidenhout (2008) Grounding Globalisation. Labour in the Era of Insecurity, London: Routledge

[41] Wood, E.M. (ed) (1997) Rising from the Ashes? Labor in the Age of ‘Global’ Capitalism , New York: Monthly Review:49