Back to the Front line? Trade Unions in a Global Age

Abstract

While the rise or revival of transnational social movements and international non-governmental organizations has of late begun to generate a significant literature (see Chapter 1, this volume), international unionism continues to attract little interest outside labour activist circles (Moody 1997; Waterman 1998; Munck and Waterman 1999; see O’Brien et al. 2000 for an exception). Why? Three reasons stand out. Firstly, international trade unions are ‘old’ non-state actors, long predating the recent rise of non-governmental organizations (NGOs): the First International Association of the Working Man was created in London in 1864. In an age when class protest is being superseded by issue-based advocacy, their very structure seems to make them cruelly unfashionable. Secondly, their transnational dimension has to be qualified: the growing embeddedness of national trade unions in domestic structures of economic management after the Second World War corresponded to an obvious lack of autonomy in matters of foreign policy. Transnational labour activity did take place: on a bilateral basis, through umbrella organizations gathering national federations, and through International Trade Secretariats (ITSs) representing workers from specific industries. But national federations and international organizations often acted as fronts for one super-power against the other. Whether the end of the Cold War was enough to ‘denationalize’ the foreign activities of labour representatives is certainly debatable; one observer assimilates Western internationals to ‘state-funded development agencies’ (Waterman 1998: 113). Thirdly, the shift in employment to non-unionized sectors and workers has contributed to a plummeting in trade union membership world-wide.² So has, arguably, the ideological ‘hollowing out’ brought about by the collapse of the former Soviet bloc.

The author wishes to thank William Wallace and Andrew Walter for their useful comments.