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After 30 Years of Deadlock: Labour's Possible Strategies in the New Global Order

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 7; Issue: 1-2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14747731003593653

1474-774X

Andreas Bieler, Ingemar Lindberg, Werner Sauerborn,

International Labor and Employment Law

Abstract This article is based on the understanding that in order to analyse labour's current inability to defend social standards and to shape the discussion of how to overcome the financial crisis, it is necessary to examine labour's wider role in the global economy during the last 30 years. It will be argued that because globalisation has severely weakened labour, new strategies and power resources have to be recovered in its struggle against neo-liberal restructuring. Importantly, this requires a generally new perspective which needs to be operationalised depending on the particular industrial sector and geographical location. The experience and challenges of Northern trade unions in transnational manufacturing must not be generalised. Este artículo se basa en el entendimiento de que para poder analizar la inhabilidad actual de los trabajadores para defender los estándares sociales y para dar forma a la discusión de cómo superar la crisis financiera, es necesario examinar el amplio rol de los trabajadores en la economía global durante los últimos 30 años. Se sostendrá que debido a que la globalización ha debilitado a los trabajadores, nuevas estrategias y recursos de poder deben recuperarse en su lucha contra la reestructuración neo-liberal. Hay que resaltar, que esto requiere generalmente una nueva perspectiva que necesita ser operacional dependiendo en el sector industrial particular y la localización geográfica. La experiencia y los retos de los sindicatos del comercio del norte en la manufacturación transnacional no debe de ser generalizada. Keywords: globalisationneo-liberal restructuringtrade unionstransnational solidarity Acknowledgements We are grateful to Anders Neergaard, participants at the workshop 'Globalisation and Transnational Solidarity' at Norrköping University, Sweden, 9–10 November 2009 as well as Barry Gills and anonymous referees for comments on earlier drafts. Notes For data about this redistribution, for example, in Japan, Germany and the USA see Le Monde diplomatique (2009 Le Monde diplomatique. 2009. Atlas der Globalisierung 2009, Berlin: taz Verlag. [Google Scholar], pp. 68–69).