Globalization, Multinational Corporations and Trade Unions: Creating New Forms of International Trade Unionism and New Forms of Representation within Multinational Corporations

2017 ◽  
pp. 255-276
Author(s):  
Miguel Martínez Lucio ◽  
Jeremy Waddington
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Trade Unionism

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.

scholarly journals The Transformation of International Trade Unionism in the Era of Globalization

Just Labour ◽  
1969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reynald Bourque ◽  
Marc- Antonin Hennebert
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
The Other ◽  
World Congress ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
The One ◽  
Second World

Following the Second World Congress of the International Trade UnionConfederation (ITUC) held from June 21 to 25, 2010in Vancouver, this articleexamines the changes undergone by international trade unionism in recent years.The increasing power of multinational corporations,as a result of globalization,has led to a transformation in international tradeunionism which has produced areorganization of its structures and the emergenceof new forms of action toensure the protection of workers’ rights worldwide.The key argument of thisarticle is that the evolution of the structures andpractices of international tradeunion organizations over the last two decades has been characterized by theimplementation of strategies aimed, on the one hand, at reinforcing trade unionunity and, on the other hand, at targeting multinational corporations. Lastly,although the transformation of international tradeunionism has given rise toimportant structural changes, international trade union organizations continue toface formidable challenges in their efforts to effectively contribute to theregulation of the global economy.

scholarly journals A Century of International Trade Unionism

2002 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Pasture
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Social History ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Trade Unionism

The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. [By] Anthony Carew, Michel Dreyfus, Geert Van Goethem [and] Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick. Marcel van der Linden (Ed.) [International and Comparative Social History, vol. 3.] Peter Lang, Bern [etc.] 2000. 624 pp. S.fr. 117.00; DM 147.00; S 975.00.

The Politics of Proletarianization: A Review Article

1979 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-230
Author(s):  
Michael Hanagan
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Labor History ◽  
Review Article ◽  
The Political ◽  
Regional Studies ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Working Class History ◽  
Political Conditions

The process of proletarianization and its role in the shaping of working class consciousness has captured the attention of French social historians over the last ten years. Until recently, works on French labor history generally neglected the formation of the working class to concentrate on the origins of national working-class parties or trade unions; thus, general histories of the political ‘workers’ movement' abound, to the detriment of occupational or regional studies. As early as 1971, Rolande Trempé's thèse asserted that the transition from godfearing peasant to socialistic proletarian had only just begun when a man put down his hoe and took up a pickaxe. In Les mineurs de Carmaux, Trempé showed the evolving social and political conditions which led coalminers in southwestern France to espouse trade unionism and socialism. The recently published thése of Yves Lequin, Les ouvriers de la region lyonnaise, provides another benchmark in the study of nineteenth-century working class history. Lequin reveals that, for the pre-1914 period in the Lyonnais region of France, the dynamics of proletarianization were more important in promoting worker militancy than its end result, the appearance of an industrial proletariat.

scholarly journals From Global Unions to the Shop Floor: Trade Union Networks in Transnational Corporations in Brazil

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Framil Filho ◽  
Leonardo Mello e Silva
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Transnational Corporations ◽  
Shop Floor ◽  
Local Labour ◽  
Transnational Connections ◽  
Union Action ◽  
Traditional Structures ◽  
Labour Power

This article analyses the origins, development and organisation of cross-union, company-based trade union networks in transnational corporations in the metal and chemical industries in Brazil. Collectively developed by local, national, foreign and international trade union organisations, this kind of union action was introduced in the country in the early 2000s as a way to connect local labour representatives organising workers in different locations within the same company. Networks strengthen local labour power and stimulate transnational connections. Promoting solidarity among workers across multiple factories, they offer the perspective for a global unionism connected to shop-floor organisation. Despite these achievements, networks face important challenges. Power imbalances, the reliance on restrictive social dialogue arrangements and the compromise with traditional structures limit the reach of the strategy.  KEY WORDS: globalisation; trade unions; new labour transnationalism; trade union networks; Brazil

scholarly journals How to beat the boss: Game Workers Unite in Britain

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Woodcock
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
International Network ◽  
Trade Unionism

This article provides an overview of the growth of game worker organising in Britain. These workers have not previously been organised in a trade union, but over the last 2 years, they have developed a campaign to unionise their sector and launched a legal trade union branch. This is a powerful example of so-called ‘greenfield’ organising, beyond the reach of existing trade unions and with workers who have not previously been members. The article provides an outline of the industry, the launch of the Game Workers Unite international network, the growth of the division in Britain as well as their formation as a branch of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain. The aim is to draw out lessons for both the videogames industry, as well as other non-unionised industries, showing how the traditions of trade unionism can be translated and developed in new contexts.

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.

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