Globalization and Labour: The New "Great Transformation"

238 Pages·2002·9.707 MB·English

by  Ronaldo Munck

RONALDO MUNCK
lobalisation and labour
the new ‘Great Transformatior

ABOUT THIS BOOK
Intellectual fashion currently focuses on us as consumers, but the
world of production and services still needs us as workers. While
globalisation has, in part, been driven over the past two decades by the
transnational corporations’ search for cheap labour in new regions of
the South, scholarly research and the mass media have paid remarkably
little attention to the consequent changes that are happening in the
world of work. This book is the first to deal comprehensively and
analytically with labour’s response to globalisation. It provides a critical
overview of the main challenges facing workers and trade unions
w orldwide. Its author argues that what may be described as the national
period in labour history is decisively over. Now the labour movement
is itself acting increasingly in a transnational manner. This holds out
the hope of its playing a major role in the social regulation of a global
economic system which is largely out of control.
The author explains how globalisation is foisting flexibilisation and
feminisation on working people, but in the process also making them
conscious of their transnational links. The ‘old’ internationalism of
the trade-union movement is now showing signs of developing into a
‘new’ internationalism where workers develop a sense of common
interest and new ways of organising that transcend national bounda¬
ries. Drawing his evidence from what is happening to workers and
trade unions in a wide range of countries in both the industrialised
North and the developing South, Professor Ronaldo Munck suggests
that we may be on the brink of a new version of what Karl Polanyi,
many years ago, strikingly called ‘the great transformation’. The im¬
plications for workers, trade unions and their transnational corporate
employers could be profound.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ronaldo Munck is Professor of Political Sociology and Director of the
Globalisation and Social Exclusion Unit at the University of Liver¬
pool. Previously he held the first post-apartheid Chair in Sociology at
the University of Durban-Westville in South Africa, and taught for
many years at the University of Ulster in the North of Ireland. He has
written extensively on labour issues including The New International
Labour Studies (Zed Books, 1988), Argentina: From Anarchism to
Peromsm. Workers, Unions and Politics, 1855-1985 (Zed Books, 1987)
and Labour Worldwide in the Era of Globalization: Alternative Union
Models in the New World Order (1999, coedited with Peter Waterman).
His recent work includes Marx@2000: Late Marxist Perspectives
(paperback edition, Zed Books, 2002) and Critical Development Theory:
Contributions to a New Paradigm (Zed Books, 1999, coedited with Denis
O’Hearn). He is currently researching labour flexibility and worker
organisations in Latin America.
GLOBALISATION AND LABOUR
THE NEW 'GREAT TRANSFORMATION'
RONALDO MUNCK
ZED BOOKS
London & New York
Globalisation and Labour was first published in 2002 by
Zed Books Ltd, 7 Cynthia Street, London N1 9JF, UK,
and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA
Distributed in the USA exclusively by Palgrave, a division of
St Martin's Press, 11c, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA
Copyright © Ronaldo Munck 2002
The right of Ronaldo Munck to be identified as the author
of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act, 1988
Designed and typeset in Monotype Ehrhardt by Illuminati, Grosmont
Cover designed by Andrew Corbett
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bookcraft Ltd, Midsomer Norton
All rights reserved
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for
ISBN 1 84277 070 5 (Hb)
ISBN 1 84277 071 3 (Pb)
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd, www.biddles.co.uk
CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii
PREFACE xi
ONE LABOUR IN THE GLOBAL 1
Transformations i
Global labour force 6
Global social movement? 13
Globalisation from below? 18
TWO THE 'GOLDEN ERA' 24
New model capitalism 25
Fordism and welfarism 31
New international division of labour 38
Crisis of the model 45
THREE THE ERA OF GLOBALISATION 51
Beyond the buzzword 51
Limits and contradictions 58
Labour centre stage 64
Matters arising 69
FOUR WORKERS NORTH 77
Flexible financial capitalism 77
Regionalism 83
Eastern capitalism 88
After-Fordism? 93
Trade-union reconfiguration 99
FIVE WORKERS SOUTH 106
From NIDL to globalisation 106
Informalisation 111
Women working worldwide 117
Trade-union responses 122
The ‘social clause’ debate 128
SIX THE OLD' INTERNATIONALISM 135
Nationalism and internationalism 135
Trade-union imperialism 140
Countervailing powers 145
Development solidarity 149
SEVEN THE NEW' INTERNATIONALISM 154
Unions in transition 154
Trade unions and others 159
Global development 164
The local and the global 169
EIGHT RESULTS AND PROSPECTS 174
The new order 174
Beyond competition 180
Future work 184
Labour reinvented 189
REFERENCES 195
INDEX 208
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE 1.1 Growth of the world workforce 7
TABLE 1.2 Women in the world’s workforce 9
TABLE 2.1 Variants of Fordism 33
TABLE 4.1 Fordism and after 94
TABLE 5.1 Trade-union density 128
TABLE 7.1 Labour repertoires and actions, 1650-2000 163
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ACEs advanced capitalist economies
AFL-CIO American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial
Organisations
AIFLD American Institute for Free Labor Development
CAW Canadian Auto Workers
COSATU Congress of South African Trade Unions
CUT Unified Worker Central
ETUC European Trade Union Confederation
EWCs European Works Councils
FDI foreign direct investment
FOSATU Federation of South African Trade Unions
FTZ free trade zones
GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
GDP Gross domestic product
ICEM International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and
General Workers’ Unions
ICF International Federation of Chemical and General Workers
Union
ICFTU International Congress of Free Trade Unions
ICT Information and Communications Technology
IEO International Labour Organisation
IMF International Metalworkers’ Federation
IMF International Monetary Fund
IPE International Political Economy