‘Workers of the World, Unite’? Globalisation and the Quest for Transnational Solidarity

Abstract

As a result of the transnational organisation of production across borders and an increasing informalisation of work, trade unions find it ever more difficult to represent the interests of their members and broader society. This work assesses both the possibilities and obstacles for trade unions to build transnational, intra-, and inter-movement solidarity. The agency of labour is analysed against the background of structural change in the global economy as well as the fundamental dynamics of capitalism. Two main strategies initiated within the World Social Forum spaces are explored: those of ‘Decent Work, Decent Life’ headed by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and related organisations and focusing on side agreements to free trade treaties, and initiatives by the Labour and Globalisation Network to increase cooperation with social movements.

Como resultado de la organización de producción trasnacional a través de las fronteras y del aumento en la informalización del trabajo, los sindicatos encuentran cada vez más difícil representar los intereses de sus miembros y de la sociedad más amplia. Este trabajo examina las posibilidades y obstáculos que encuentran los sindicatos para crear una solidaridad en los movimientos tras-, intra-, e internacionales. Se ha analizado a la agencia del trabajo teniendo como trasfondo el cambio estructural en la economía global, como también la dinámica fundamental del capitalismo. Se exploraron dos estrategias principales iniciadas dentro de los espacios del Fórum Social Mundial: aquellas del ‘Trabajo Decente, Vida Decente’ presidida por la Confederación de Sindicatos (ITUC, por sus siglas en inglés) y organizaciones relacionadas y con un enfoque en los acuerdos secundarios a los tratados de libre comercio e iniciativas por la Red de Sindicatos y Globalización para aumentar la cooperación con los movimientos sociales.

跨国组织的跨国生产和日益的生产信息化导致工会越来越难代表其成员和更广泛社会群体的利益。本文评估了工会建立跨国运动、运动内部和与其他运动团结一致的可能性和障碍。本文对工会的分析以全球经济的结构变化和资本主义的根本动力为背景，研究了世界社会论坛运动中倡导的两项主要策略：国际工会联盟（ITUC）和相关组织领导的 “体面劳动，体面生活”，其关注自由贸易协定的附属协议，以及劳动与全球化网络关于加强社会运动间合作的倡议。

국경을 뛰어 넘는 생산의 초국적 조직과 점증하는 노동의 비공식화로 노조들은 조합원의 이해와 사회의 이해를 대변하는 것이 더 어려워졌다. 이 논문은 노조가 초국적 운동의 연대, 운동 내 연대, 운동간 연대를 구축하는 데 있어서 가능성과 장애를 평가한다. 노조들이 근본적인 자본주의 동학뿐만 아니라 지구 경제에서의 구조적 변화의 배경 하에서 분석된다. 세계 사회포럼 공간에서 주도된 두 가지 주된 전략이 분석된다: 국제노조총연맹(ITUC)과 관련된 조직들이 주도하는 ‘괜찮은 일자리, 괜찮은 생활(decent work, decent life)’ 전략과 사회운동들과의 협조를 드높이기 위한 노동과 세계화 네트워크의 구상.

Keywords:

• capitalist dynamics
• globalisation and resistance
• trade unions
• transnational solidarity
• uneven and combined development

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to participants in research seminars at Tübingen University on 29 June 2011 and at Sussex University on 31 October 2011, two anonymous reviewers, Elif Uzgören, and Ruth Reitan for comments on earlier drafts.

Notes

For a critical overview of recent literature on trade unions' role in the global economy, the so-called ‘New Global Labour Studies’, see Waterman (2012).

See http://www.ituc-csi.org/world-day-for-decent-work.html.

See http://www.ituc-csi.org/.

See http://www.sigtur.com/. Unevenness is also visible in the Global South itself. Some have argued, for example, that COSATU increasingly only represents a privileged core labour force rather than all workers across the formal and informal sectors in South Africa (Pillay, 2008).

See http://www.streetnet.org.za/.

For an overview of other successful examples of organising informal workers and the potential involvement of trade unions, see Bonner and Spooner (2011).

See http://www.solidaires.org/.

Based on discussions at the Labour Assembly on 20 September 2008 and at the Trade Union Assembly on 21 September 2008 at the European Social Forum in Malmö. Participant observations by the author.

First Joint Social Conference, Brussels/Belgium on 10 and 11 March 2011, Day 2. Participant observations by the author.

See http://www.jointsocialconference.eu/var/www/cne/www.jointsocialconference.eu/IMG/pdf/2011_-_jsc_-_en_-_press_release.pdf.

First Joint Social Conference, Brussels/Belgium on 10 and 11 March 2011, Day 2. Participant observations by the author.

See http://www.epsu.org/a/7647.

See WIEGO, http://wiego.org/informal-economy/campaign-domestic-workers-convention.