GLOBAL UNIONISM - A POTENTIAL PLAYER

Trade unions have little influence over the forces at work in the proc ess of globalization. Their bargaining power remains largely circumscr ibed by national boundaries, whereas business and capital increasingly escape national regulation. How can the socio-economic balance of pow er be redressed? Breitenfellner's answer is global unionism: unions ne ed to operate and bargain internationally. His proposition is based in ter alia on the traditions of labour internationalism, examples of uni on-instigated global or regional labour standards and evidence of the relative economic efficiency of higher-level wage bargaining. The real challenge to unions, he argues, is to take advantage of the opportuni ties of globalization.