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Labor Relations Commons

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2013

International and Comparative Labor Relations

Globalization

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Labor Relations

Regional Integration And Transnational Labor Strategies Under Nafta, Maria Cook Jan 2013

Regional Integration And Transnational Labor Strategies Under Nafta, Maria Cook

Maria Lorena Cook

[Excerpt] This paper argues that while the internationalization of the economy has tended to weaken national labor movements, the internationalization of domestic politics may expand the traditional arenas for strategic action for labor unions. In particular, the North American Free Trade Agreement has been portrayed by some of its many critics as representing the consolidation of a neoconservative or neoliberal project that will not only shape the future economic development of the region, but also constrain its social policies and limit its political options (Grinspun and Cameron 1993: Chapter 1). However, these same critics have also noted that the debate …


Reviving The Labor Movement: A Comparative Perspective, Lowell Turner Jan 2013

Reviving The Labor Movement: A Comparative Perspective, Lowell Turner

Lowell Turner

[Excerpt] In recent years, the long-declining U.S. labor movement has refocused in new and promising ways on rank-and-file mobilization, in organizing drives, collective bargaining conflicts and political campaigns. Such efforts are widely viewed as the best hope for revitalizing the labor movement: breathing new life into tired old unions, winning organizing drives and raising membership levels, increasing political influence, pushing toward the power necessary to reform labor law and ineffective labor institutions. The stakes are high and the goals ambitious: to close the "representation gap" at the workplace, reverse growing economic and social inequality, and build new coalitions for expanded …


Globalization And The Logic Of Participation: Unions And The Politics Of Coalition Building, Lowell Turner Jan 2013

Globalization And The Logic Of Participation: Unions And The Politics Of Coalition Building, Lowell Turner

Lowell Turner

Global liberalization is driving a 'logic of participation', for firms and unions alike. Economic pressures drive managers to innovate across a range of possibilities, from outsourcing and union busting to work reorganization and labor-management partnership. Those same pressures, reflected largely through the strategic choices of employers, also force unions to innovate – from concession bargaining and cooperation to coalition building and international solidarity. Because employers are increasingly tempted by strategies that seek to weaken or marginalize unions, sustained participation for unions arguably requires a new period of activist mobilization. This article explores one significant component of renewed labor mobilization: union …