Labour and the Challenges of Globalization: What Prospects for Transnational Solidarity? - Hardcover

Bieler, Andreas; Lindberg, Ingemar; Pillay, Devan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0745327575 ISBN 13: 9780745327570

Publisher: Pluto Press, 2008

Synopsis

This book examines the main challenges facing the world labor force and possible responses from trade unions.
The working classes across the world are feeling the effects of globalization and the race to the bottom that it encourages. Core jobs for workers in the developed world are being outsourced to countries where pay and conditions are terrible and union membership is often forbidden. Much of the work of the world economy is now taking place in a burgeoning informal sector, making worldwide organization of labor very difficult.
Case studies from 11 different countries, including China, Germany, Canada and South Africa, illustrate what is happening and show how workers and trade unions can successfully adapt to the neoliberal world.

About this title

About the Author:

Andreas Bieler is Professor of Political Economy in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham. Ingemar Lindberg, a former trade unionist, is a senior researcher at the Swedish think-tank Agora.Devan Pillay, a former trade unionist, is Associate Professor in Sociology, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.

Review:

'Labour and the Challenges of Globalization breaks new ground by anchoring the response of labour to globalization in the strategies of individual labour movements. Through ten excellent country reports, leading labour scholars show how new struggles are emerging in the face of hyper-competition and the expanding informalisation of work. It is a persuasive plea for a new form of transnational solidarity that goes beyond traditional trade unionism.' --Eddie Webster, Professor of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa  'In an era when capital strikes back globally, old tools are no longer enough. The book Labour and the Challenges of Globalization makes an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the situation of the working class today.' --Clas Linder, First Vice President, Swedish Transport Workers' Union

About this edition

• Publisher: Pluto Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0745327575
• ISBN 13: 9780745327570
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352