Workers and workplaces in a neoliberal global economy

In this commentary I suggest that three sets of processes-a dramatic shrink ing of distance between places, a growing global interconnection of economi es, and the increasing importance for many corporations of an 'internationa l strategy'-are having fundamental impacts on workers and workplaces. Altho ugh these processes are playing out in geographically uneven ways, differen tially affecting various parts of the globe, there are three sets of genera l implications associated with them. First, the speed with which the conseq uences of economic and political events are transmitted through markets has increased dramatically during the past decades. Second, the rhetoric of ne oliberal globalization is being used in an attempt to shift the balance of power to global capital. Third, the international migration of both work an d people is likely to increase, the former fueled by Internet technologies effectively allowing global telecommuting, the latter fueled by falling bir th rates in the industrial economies of the global North. I conclude with s ome observations about how workers and their organizations may respond to t hese developments.