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Barriers to cross‐border trade union cooperation in Europe: the case of the graphical workers
Author(s) -
Gennard John,
Newsome Kirsty
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
industrial relations journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.525
H-Index - 3
eISSN - 1468-2338
pISSN - 0019-8692
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2338.2005.00344.x
Subject(s) - multinational corporation , sanctions , globalization , trade union , face (sociological concept) , international trade , power (physics) , business , political science , sociology , law , social science , physics , quantum mechanics
This paper is concerned with exploring the barriers to cross‐border trade union cooperation among graphical workers in Europe. Highlighting the increasing globalisation of graphical multinationals, the paper illustrates that graphical unions cannot restrict their activities to developments within national boundaries. As such it highlights some of the obstacles that unions face in attempting to instigate transnational cooperation strategies. These obstacles include: the role of employers, the prevailing practices of the unions, employee reticence, the role of the law and resource constraints. It concludes by stressing the continuing need to strengthen cross‐border trade union networks with the ability to impose effective sanctions against the unbridled growth of multinational power.