Taking on the CosmoCorps? Experiments in Transnational Labor Organization

* This research is part of a larger project entitled “The Re-Scaling of Workplace Solidarity? The Implications of European Works Councils for British Industrial Relations,” which is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (Grant no. R000221873). The support of the ESRC is gratefully acknowledged.

Abstract

This paper revisits the argument that globalization necessarily undermines trade union organization. In addition to heightened competition for investment and the threat of social dumping, the internationalization of capital can also bring workers into closer contact with each other. Working class nationalism and internationalism are both possible outcomes of economic globalization. By exploring the history of labor internationalism and the current development of European Works Councils (EWCs), this paper urges caution in assuming that globalization necessarily threatens labor organization. Contemporary experience suggests that, in some instances, the changing world economy poses new opportunities for workers to organize across national boundaries. I draw on preliminary research into the development of EWCs in the United Kingdom to suggest that they offer real opportunities for new forms of labor internationalism, and as such, EWCs are emblematic of the possibilities and problems facing workers as they seek to organize in a globalizing world.

Key Words:

• labor internationalism
• social dumping
• multinational corporations
• globalization
• European Works Councils
• European industrial relations

Notes

* This research is part of a larger project entitled “The Re-Scaling of Workplace Solidarity? The Implications of European Works Councils for British Industrial Relations,” which is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (Grant no. R000221873). The support of the ESRC is gratefully acknowledged.