21st Century Trade Unions

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the state of unions in 21st-century America and beyond. It explains how, as businesses are undergoing globalization, unions too now reach across national borders allowing workers across the world to unite with each other. It looks at how trade unions have evolved over the past century and what different characteristics they possess in the globalization era.

From the Paper:

"Indeed, the globalization of companies has been one of the spurs to recent unionization efforts, for the conditions that workers face in transnational corporations are often grim indeed. The lack of respect for the individual worker (whether skilled or not) by companies that are always scanning the horizon for the cheapest, most compliant labor pool possible has at least in some cases backfired, creating workers who are in fact willing to stand up for their rights. And the ease of communication across national borders that provides the economic basis for so much transnationalism also makes it easier for unions and workers to unite behind common interests across national lines. We think of North Americans as being bound together by NAFTA, a trade agreement that to some extent benefits the national governments of Canada, the United States and Mexico while mostly benefiting corporations in these countries. But the nations of North America are also bound together by FAT the "Authentic Labor Front". Both NAFTA and FAT acknowledge that entire regions of the world, and even the entire world itself, are now bound together economically. And economic ties exist between workers just as much as they do between companies."

More papers on 21st Century Trade Unions:

• Term Paper # 144205 : "China's 21st Century Trade Profile"
• Research Paper # 71967 : "Japan Trade Unions"
• Research Paper # 150193 : "New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (CTU)"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: