David Huxtable

This short book outlines the activities of the largest transnational trade union organizations, during the post-Soviet period and offers an explanation as to why they are not succeeding in their efforts to curtail the power of global capital. The paper employs Gramsci's notion of a historic bloc and van der Pijl's understanding of the class fractions to examine the dilemma faced by Global Unions in seeking to extend to the global level the industrial relations regimes secured throughout the advanced capitalist countries in the postwar period. It is argued that the historical conditions which afforded organized labour a relatively powerful role in postwar capitalist hegemony have disappeared, and that the current structure of global capitalist hegemony does not offer a similar opportunity for trade unions. By comparing the conditions that facilitated the creation of postwar industrial relations regimes to the current situation, the book hopes to illustrate the historical limitations of trade unionism as an effective form of resistance.

This paper is based on the author’s contribution to ‘The Research Agenda for the Left
Today’ panel held during the Society for Socialist Studies 2006 conference. It argues
that, despite the recent renewal of academic interest in labour movements, there is a gap in
contemporary research on organized labour around the existence of and potential future
role for actually existing global trade unions. The purpose of this paper is to spark an
interest amongst left academics in a future research project on the organizations which
comprise the recently created Council of Global Unions, and in particular the recently
created International Trade Union Confederation. After a brief introduction to the history
of these organizations and an outline of their activities, the author offers a number of
questions that may prove interesting for those concerned about the future direction of
organized labour at the global level.

This dissertation examines collaborations between the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and non-union elements of global civil society (GCS). GCS is presented as a crucial emergent site of transnational class formation, and ITUC collaborations within this field are treated as potentially important moments in transnational class formation. The goal of the dissertation is threefold. It seeks to 1) address the lacuna in GCS studies around the involvement of organized labour; 2) provide an analysis of what ITUC GCS collaborations mean for the remit and repertoire of action of the ITUC; and 3) provide an analysis of the impact of ITUC collaborations on transnational class formation.

What the findings show is that the ITUC is heavily engaged in GCS through numerous collaborations with non-union organizations concerned with environmental degradation, human rights, global economic inequality, and women workers. Most significantly, collaboration within GCS has provided the ITUC an avenue to incorporate the needs of marginalized women workers whose work does not “fit” into the traditional model of trade union organizing. These findings lead to the conclusion that these collaborations have allowed the ITUC to expand the remit of its activities beyond “bread- and-butter” unionism, and expand its repertoire of action beyond interstate diplomacy. However, the findings do not support the idea that the ITUC has adopted a social movement framework, although it is clear that the ethos of social movement unionism has had an impact on the organization. Nonetheless, the dissertation concludes that the incorporation of marginalized women workers, and the active engagement of the ITUC in global environmental policy debates, signifies a new moment in transnational class formation.