The New Global Labour Studies: A Critical Review

Abstract

The past two decades have seen a dramatic upsurge in sustained, cross-border labour activism, or labour transnationalism. Scattered across multiple disciplines and subfields, a new field of inquirythe new global labour studies (NGLS) -has emerged as scholars seek to comprehend the causes and consequences of twenty-first-century labour transnationalism. This multi-disciplinary approach has provided a platform from which to analyse an emerging phenomenon. We assess relevant strands of this emerging field that focus on: a) new theories of labour power and corporate vulnerability, and b) worker agency and organising strategy. While these areas have produced robust findings, we argue that developing a more complete understanding of labour transnationalism and its outcomes will require scholars to produce a more explicit critique of mainstream political economy, sociology, political science and labour studies. KEY WORDSLabour; labour movements; globalisation; transnationalism; labour transnationalism; unions The New Global Labour Studies: A Critical ReviewThe past two decades have seen a dramatic upsurge in sustained, cross-border labour activism, or labour transnationalism. Spanning North-South divides, industrial and service economies, and racial and gender lines, workers and their organisations have attempted, sometimes successfully, to meet capital at its own scale. To date over 115 global framework agreements (GFAs) have been signed by transnational corporations (TNCs) and the recently re-branded Global Unions. The latter expanded significantly in the early 2000s following their transformation from the old International Trade Secretariats into Global Union Federations. Workers and unions from different countries are also increasingly involved in less formal modes of transnational collaboration, ranging from basic alliancebuilding efforts to more elaborate, employer-targeted campaigns.Through these actions transnational activists have collectively built the inchoate foundation of a new kind of labour movement. Scholars argue that, in contrast to the past, the new spirit of labour transnationalism strives for greater democracy, diversity and inclusivity, and tries to emphasise direct, concrete solidarity actions informed by strategic research and decentralised information networks.

Constructing Transnational Solidarity: The Role of Campaign Governance

“…And, there has been an increase in nuanced research on cross‐border solidarity cases that has shed light upon the conditions under which GFAs signed at the global level may or may not result in specific improvements at the local level, exemplified in the works of Anner et al . (), Brookes and McCallum (), Fichter and McCallum () and Niforou ().…”

“…Brookes and McCallum (: 208) suggest that this cacophony of case studies on labour transnationalism from diverse disciplines offers ‘more trees than forest’. They call for researchers to conceptualize more clearly and consistently what labour transnationalism is, develop clear criteria for categorizing the wide range of observed ‘types’ of labour transnationalism and identify which instances of it are directly comparable (whether small N comparative case studies or large N quantitative analyses), in order to advance our understanding and develop theory.…”

Innovations in Labor Studies - Incorporating Global Perspectives: From Exhortation to Making It Real

“…There are a number of scholars--in addition to Brookes and McCallum (2017)--who ignore this researcher's work, even when on point, or who do nothing more than list some of these publications.…”

Peter Waterman (1936–2017): Radical Internationalist, Scholar‐Activist

“…This book also saw the radical-democratic language 5. For further development of the new international labour studies (NILS) into the field of the new global labour studies (NGLS) and ongoing discussions, see Brookes and McCallum (2017); Munck (2009). and perspective replacing the Marxist-socialist paradigm.…”

“…For further development of the new international labour studies (NILS) into the field of the new global labour studies (NGLS) and ongoing discussions, see Brookes and McCallum (); Munck ().…”