Power resources and supranational mechanisms: The global unions and the OECD Guidelines

Abstract

This article uses the power resources approach to analyse the Global Union Federations’ (GUFs) use of the specific instances mechanism associated with the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. While this mechanism has serious limitations, it has proved to be a useful tool when combined with public campaigns and the exercise of other power resources at multiple scales. This is so, we argue, because the fact that multi-national enterprises themselves operate across national boundaries creates an incentive to engage power resources at a supranational level, as well as within the countries where they, or their suppliers, are present. As this finding suggests, consideration of unions’ power resources benefits from deeper consideration of the multi-scalar and interrelated character of union action and of the role that intermediary coordinating organizations like GUFs play in supporting the exercise of power at the supranational level.

From marketising to empowering: Evaluating union responses to devolutionary policies in education

“…Scholars have since identified other resources, notably institutional power (the extent to which organised labour is embedded in political, legal and industrial relations systems), as well as coalitional power, symbolic power, and discursive power (Lévesque and Murray, 2010). Ford and Gillan (2021) observe complexity around the privileging of certain power resources in existing studies and their interrelationship where strength in one power resource can compensate for weakness in another. Importantly, power resources may also be shaped by different historical, political and social contexts (Schmalz et al, 2018), and can vary in significance across sectors (Ford and Gillan, 2021).…”

“…Ford and Gillan (2021) observe complexity around the privileging of certain power resources in existing studies and their interrelationship where strength in one power resource can compensate for weakness in another. Importantly, power resources may also be shaped by different historical, political and social contexts (Schmalz et al, 2018), and can vary in significance across sectors (Ford and Gillan, 2021).…”

The hidden layers of resistance to dominant HRM transfer: Evidence from Japanese management practice adoption in Indonesia

“…However, this effort is also subject to Indonesian institutional frameworks, opening up the potential for contradiction and conflict. Nonetheless, since the collapse of Soeharto's 33-year rule, trade unions have formally organized, and employees' voices have gained representation (Ford and Gillan, 2021) with trade unions having dynamic involvement in both imported and locally developed ER systems.…”

Two forms of transnational organizing: Mapping the strategies of Global Union Federations

“…In the case of Qatar, bwi changed its strategy together with Ituc to push for reforms of the labor law. They have almost exclusively been using their discursive power for this purpose (Ford & Gillan, 2021). Although this strategy has seen some successes, with reforms such as the implementation of a minimum wage, international media has continued to report far-reaching labor rights violations with the Guardian reporting that 6.500 construction workers have died over the last decade while building Qatar's infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup.…”

“…In this changing environment, Global Union Federations (gufs) have become a key actor in transnational organizing. Already established in the late 19 th or early 20 th century, several gufs have gained new members and built their capacities since the Cold War and have become increasingly active in global campaigning, thus, organizing against tncs, supporting national unions, and negotiating international framework agreements with employers (Croucher & Cotton, 2009;Fichter & Mc-Callum, 2015;Brookes, 2019;Ford/Gillan, 2021). In this paper, we analyze various guf strategies created to tackle the challenges of globalization.…”