scholarly journals Constructing Labour Regionalism in Europe and the Americas, 1920s–1970s

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magaly Rodríguez García
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
World War ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Scant Attention ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
Push And Pull ◽  
Comparative Examination

AbstractThis article provides an analysis of the construction of labour regionalism between the 1920s and 1970s. By means of a comparative examination of the supranational labour structures in Europe and the Americas prior to World War II and of the decentralized structure of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), I attempt to defend the argument that regionalism was a labour leaders' construct that responded to three issues: the quest for power among the largest trade-union organizations within the international trade-union movement; mutual distrust between labour leaders of large, middle-sized, and small unions from different regions; and (real or imaginary) common interests among labour leaders from the same region. These push-and-pull factors led to the construction of regional labour identifications that emphasized “otherness” in the world of international labour. A regional labour identity was intended to supplement, not undermine, national identity. As such, this study fills a lacuna in the scholarly literature on international relations and labour internationalism, which has given only scant attention to the regional level of international labour organization.

scholarly journals TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN THE FIRST CHECHOSLOVATSKIY REPUBLIC IN THE PERIOD FROM 1918 TO 1924

2019 ◽  
pp. 115-121
Author(s):  
Tetiana PIKOVSKA
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
World War ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Czechoslovak Society ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Republic ◽  
First World

The economic development and political structure of Czechoslovakia after the end of the First World War are analyzed. The attention is focused on the peculiarities of the functioning of trade unions in the republic. Specific features of the trade union movement are defined - fragmentation and influence of political parties. The process of implementation by trade unions of its direct functions - mediation between large capital and workers, improvement of the status of employees - is highlighted.The methods of Czechoslovak trade unions' implementation of these functions are described, which can be divided into three groups: direct actions, instruments of social reconciliation, auxiliary measures. It is noted that the influence of trade unions during 1918-1924 as a speaker of the interests of the workers increased significantly. This is evidenced by the statistics of the won labor disputes and successful strikes of employees. However, the fragmentation of trade unions, which eventually intensified, did not allow a dialogue between the worker and the state more rational, which eventually led to a decrease in the intensity of the strike movement and a decrease in the level of trust in trade unions in the working environment.The main cause of this phenomenon was the disparity of the Czechoslovak society due to national, religious and political heterogeneity.

Globalisation and the dilemmas of international trade unionism

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Economic Developments

This article presents the author's reflections on the possibilities of a restructuring of the international trade union movement, on the basis of a collective research project to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) which seeks to open a debate within the movement over the lessons to be learned from its history as a guide for its future action. The most important question facing the trade union movement today is what is generally called 'globalisation', a phenomenon that goes back many years, both in terms of economic developments and labour struggles. From this perspective, the paper examines the basis for the existing divisions of the international labour movement, before going over the work of the ICFTU and of the International Trade Secretariats (ITSs) to achieve the regulation of the multinational corporations and of the international economy, and concluding on the prospects for unity of action in the unions' work around the global economy.

British Trade Unions and European Union Integration in the 1990s: Politics versus Political Economy

2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 332-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard Strange
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Economic And Monetary Union ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
British Trade ◽  
Careful Assessment

This article evaluates the changing assessments within the British trade union movement of the efficacy of European Union integration from the viewpoint of labour interests. It argues that there has been a marked further ‘Europeanisation’ of British trade unionism during the 1990s, consolidating an on-going process which previous research shows began in earnest in the mid 1980s. A shift in trade union economic policy assessments has seen the decisive abandonment of the previously dominant ‘naive’ or national Keynesianism. While there remain important differences in economic perspective between unions, these are not such as would create significant divisions over the question of European integration per se, the net benefits of which are now generally, though perhaps not universally, accepted. The absence of fundamental divisions is evident from a careful assessment of the debates about economic and monetary union at TUC Congress. The Europeanisation of British trade unionism needs to be seen within the context of an emergent regionalism, in Europe and elsewhere. It can best be understood as a rational response by an important corporate actor (albeit one whose national influence has been considerably diminished in recent decades) to globalisation and a significantly changing political economy environment.

Growth vs. Economic Democracy in Japan—1945-1965

1966 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 713-728
Author(s):  
Kozo Yamamura
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Japanese Economy ◽  
Economic Democracy ◽  
World War ◽  
Allied Occupation ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
The Past ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Bona Fide

What has been happening to “Economic Democracy” in Japan within the past twenty years since the end of World War II? Has die emphasis upon rapid economic growth countered the measures intended by the Allied Occupation to ensure economic democracy?The democratic economy the Supreme Command of the Allied Powers envisioned for Japan in the years 1946-1948 was to be free of highly concentrated economic power, either in the hands of Zaibatsu or of giant corporations, was to have an Anti-Monopoly Act to promote “the democratic and wholesome development of the national economy as well as to assure the interest of the general consumer,” and was to have a “just and equal” tax law to “democratize the Japanese economy.” A thorough-going land reform and legal bona fide trade union movement also was declared to be a necessary part of economic democracy. It was, in the words of the Zaibatsu Mission, to build “a strong middle class which can influence the course of policy.”

scholarly journals The International Trade-Union Movement and the Founding of the International Labour Organization

2005 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reiner Tosstorff
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
International Labour Organization ◽  
High Expectations ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
Union Movement

Accounts of the founding of the International Labour Organization (ILO) usually emphasize the role of social-reformist intellectuals and politicians. Despite the indisputable role of these actors, however, the international labour movement was the actual initiator of this process. Over the course of World War I, the international labour movement proposed a comprehensive programme of protection for the working classes, which, conceived as compensation for its support of the war, was supposed to become an international agreement after the war. In 1919, politicians took up this programme in order to give social stability to the postwar order. However, the way in which the programme was instituted disappointed the high expectations of trade unions regarding the fulfilment of their demands. Instead, politicians offered them an institution that could be used, at best, to realize trade-union demands. Despite open disappointment and sharp critique, however, the revived International Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) very quickly adapted itself to this mechanism. The IFTU now increasingly oriented its international activities around the lobby work of the ILO.

Civil Strife and the Growth of Trade Union Unity: The Case of Ireland

1973 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 407-431
Author(s):  
Charles McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Shop Floor ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Difficult Time

A MAJOR CLAIM OF THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN THIS DIFFICULT time in Northern Ireland is that they have ‘prevented the spread of riot and disturbance into the workplace’. The claim has been consistently made and with growing emphasis since the troubles began, and Norman Kennedy at last year's annual conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions called it the one beacon of hope, this ‘maintaining unity of the workers, Catholic and Protestant, on the shop floor’ in what he described as largely a conflict of worker against worker, of a working-class community divided along sectarian lines. This is associated with a related claim that trade union recommendations on social and political change have a special legitimacy because the leadership is close to the people who are involved in the conflict. This political role, essentially non-party, is seen to be more significant and extensive than the traditional political activity of the trade union movement.

Professional Association or Teachers' Trade Union: The A.T.T.I. and the Question of T.U.C. Affiliation

1979 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-273
Author(s):  
Ronald E. Kowalski
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Labor Movement ◽  
Organized Labor ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
National Union ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
History Of ◽  
Common Interests

On January 1, 1967, the Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions became the first organization of British academics to affiliate with the Trades Union Congress. Over the next ten years such major educational bodies as the National Union of Teachers, the National Association of Schoolmasters, and the Association of University Teachers followed its lead and sought formal alignment with the organized labor movement in Britain. Participation in the T.U.C. meant identification as a trade union. This issue lay at the very heart of a lengthy debate within the A.T.T.I. over affiliation. For affiliation required a fundamental reappraisal of the A.T.T.I.'s traditional professional identity and organizational principles, one that ultimately led its members to recognize and acknowledge both the Association's primary role as a teachers' trade union and its common interests with the labor movement. The issue generated similar debate within many British education associations and signaled the emergence of teachers as active participants in the trade union movement. But it was an issue not easily resolved given teachers' historical identity as professionals. A.T.T.I. presence in the T.U.C. helped other associations move in the same direction and eased acceptance of this new identity in many instances. The A.T.T.I. decision to affiliate thus represents an important turning point in the history of that Association and the relationship between academics and the organized labor movement in Britain.

Palestinian Trade Unions

2000 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 66-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Sovich
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Labor Movement ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Palestinian Authority ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Union Movement

In 1994, the Palestinian labor movement, crippled by years of factionalism and Israeli oppression, expected that the arrival of the Palestinian Authority would enable it to reorient its priorities from national politics to workers' rights. This article examines the trajectory of the trade union movement since Oslo and particularly the reasons for its ongoing factionalism and failure to meet its objectives.

scholarly journals Flexland in wording.

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-146
Author(s):  
Rosa Kösters ◽  
Loran Van Diepen ◽  
Moira Van Dijk ◽  
Matthias Van Rossum
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Institutional Perspective ◽  
Social Movement Organization ◽  
Internal Dynamics ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Movement Organization

Internationally, the 1980s marked a shift in economic policy. In the Netherlands, it was the decade of the supposedly moderate neoliberal turn and of the first round of flexibilization. Nowadays, the degree of flexibility of the Dutch labour market is exceptionally high compared to neighbouring countries. This article examines how the trade union movement in the 1980s responded to increasing flexibilization, which strategy was used, and how this contributed to early Dutch flexibilization. In contrast to the literature with an institutional perspective, this article analyzes the trade union movement from a social-historical perspective and as a social movement organization. As a result, it argues that the effects of rising flexibilization were signalled very early on within the trade unions. Be that as it may, both the priorities that followed from the agreements with employer organizations and the internal dynamics, were decisive for the trade union movement’s relatively late and unassertive responses towards the flexibilization of labour in the 1980s.

scholarly journals Lviv printings general professional assosiation of mutual assistance in 1856-1867. Analysis of activity

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 6-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. R. Berest
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Mutual Assistance ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
Short Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation

The attempt to analyze and show the important role of Lviv printers and to describe their role in the development of Galician society has been made in the article. This attempt has been made on the basis of documents, the principle of historicism, scientific and objective approach. The importance and problematic of the comprehensive study of the oldest history of the creation, formation and development of Lviv printers’ professional co-operation of mutual assistance has been highlighted, and the history and activities of this organization in stages have been described. In general, trade unions emerged as an independent united self-defense organizations and they were formed in the form of workers’ associations and mutual assistance funds. During the first half of the nineteenth century the crystallization of the activities of trade unions happened under the influence of various measures, hold by the administrations, the police and the authorities. This contributed to the further unification of labor and the creation of all-city union of printers in Lviv. It is quite logical that the basis of their actions was their desire to achieve and get the working solidarity, mutual support and assistance. The activities of the trade union were regulated by the statutes. First of all, the purpose of the establishment and operation of the organization was socio-economic, cultural and educational ones. Those purposes were approved by the relevant state authorities and, thus, prevented trade unions from participating in political life.The short period of the 1860-1880s can be considered to be a separate stage in the process of the formation of the mass trade union movement in Galicia. Together with the trade unions of printers, settlers, brokers, masons, carpenters, builders, tanneries, metal workers, doctors, pharmacists, tradesmen, postmen, civil servants, lawyers and many others united and became active partners of the region.The problem, which has been investigated in the article, has a valuable scientific significance as it allows to solve one of the most important issues: to get the historical understanding of activities of Lviv trade union organizations, which have not been thoroughly studied yet.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document