In dubious battle: A case study of the new labor transnationalism
Item
-
Title
-
In dubious battle: A case study of the new labor transnationalism
-
Identifier
-
d_2009_2013:a7c7c038f514:10919
-
identifier
-
11183
-
Creator
-
McCallum, Jamie K.,
-
Contributor
-
Frances Fox Piven
-
Date
-
2011
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Labor relations | International relations | globalization | india | political economy | social movements | south africa | trade unions
-
Abstract
-
This dissertation revisits the widely held assertion that neoliberal globalization necessarily undermines the power of workers. While increasing economic integration clearly presents challenges for organized labor, scholars have shown it also offers new opportunities based upon the contradictions of global capitalism. But recent debates about labor transnationalism provide a point of entry for a deeper examination of strategies for unions in the global era. Particularly, I assess the prospects for unions to exercise associational power by enforcing new modes of global governance. I believe that a careful assessment of actually existing labor transnationalism can help transcend debates between the negative prognosis of global processes and abstract internationalism. This in-depth case study suggests that global union campaigns can empower local voices and impact local unionization strategies. I therefore offer a new theoretical perspective that links labor transnationalism with union revitalization.;Within this large and complex context, I compare the experiences of unions in South Africa and India as they collaborate with their partner unions in North America to battle multinational employers. First, I describe the contours of a global campaign in the private security industry, in which unions from multiple countries force their global employer to sign an international framework agreement, guaranteeing certain rights and standards for all the company's employees. Secondly, I compare the different implementation processes of the agreement between unions in South Africa and India. I conclude that workers in South Africa were able to use the rights won in the agreement to organize new workers and build stronger workplace unions. I refer to these as mobilization-type impacts. In India, unions have used the agreement to force the company to re-interpret important labor laws, which I call legislative-type impacts. I explain this variation based on an analysis of the local environments in which transnational collaboration takes place.;This case suggests that scholars of labor transnationalism should more seriously consider the dynamic interaction of local mobilization and transnational campaigning. I also seek to correct a pattern in the literature which describes the recent interest in global unionism as simply following the trajectory of corporate globalization. Instead, I argue that failed domestic campaigns against multinational employers have encouraged some unions to experiment with innovative strategies at different scales, while others have become more inward-looking.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
2009_2013.csv
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
-
Program
-
Sociology
