Transnational Trade Unionism ― Building Union Power

Transnational trade union action has expanded significantly over the last few decades and has taken a variety of shapes and trajectories. This book is concerned with understanding the spatial extension of trade union action, and in particular the development of new forms of collective mobilization, network-building, and forms of regulation that bridge local and transnational issues.

Through the work of leading international specialists, this collection of essays examines the process and dynamic of transnational trade union action and provides analytical and conceptual tools to understand these developments. The research presented here emphasizes that the direction of transnational solidarity remains contested, subject to experimentation and negotiation, and includes studies of often overlooked developments in transition and developing countries with original analyses from the European Union and NAFTA areas. Providing a fresh examination of transnational solidarity, this volume offers neither a romantic or overly optimistic narrative of a borderless unionism, nor does it fall into a fatalistic or pessimistic account of international union solidarity. Through original research conducted at different levels, this book disentangles the processes and dynamics of institution building and challenges the conventional national based forms of unionism that prevailed in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Peter Fairbrother is a Professor of International Employment Relations and Director of the Centre for Sustainable Organisations and Work at RMIT University, Australia. He is also a core researcher at the Interuniversity Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT). He has researched and published widely on trade union renewal, industrial restructuring and regeneration and the privatisation and reorganisation of public services and utilities. His recent work focuses on the mobilisation of labour in relation to the social and political transition towards low carbon economies. He has published nine books and numerous articles and book chapters.

Christian Levesque is a Professor of Employment Relations at HEC Montreal, Canada, and Co-director of the Interuniversity Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT). His research focus concerns the impact of globalization on trade unions, employment practices in multinational corporations, and union-management relations. He has done extensive fieldwork in various parts of the world, including Mexico, various countries in Europe, Ghana and China. He has published on trade union renewal, comparative employment practices in multinational corporations and transnational union action. He has co-edited a book and four special journal issues and published several articles and book chapters.

Marc-Antonin Hennebert is Assistant Professor in HR and Labour Relations at HEC Montreal, Canada and a core researcher at the Interuniversity Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT). He holds a PhD from Universite de Montreal and recently completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Management at King's College London. His recent research looks at the emergence of new forms of international labour regulation such as corporate codes of conduct, global framework agreements and international collective bargaining and its impact on actors and their strategies. He has recently published various articles and a book on international union alliances.