A global super union?

Citation

Gennard, J. (2007), "A global super union?", Employee Relations, Vol. 29 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/er.2007.01929eaa.001

A global super union?

The rise of the multi-national company means that trade unions can no longer effectively protect and advance the interests of their members by confining their activities to within national boundaries. More and more employees in different parts of the world are finding themselves employed by the same company. Multi-national companies competing in the same, as well as different, product markets implement quite different industrial relations policies and practices in one country relative to another. It is unusual for multi-national companies, regardless of the countries in which they operate to apply common industrial relations and employment conditions policies and practices. Some operate a strategy of “divide and rule” which is typified in these multi-nationals which inform their workers at one establishment in one country they cannot have the improvement in employment conditions which they seek as they are not as productive as the company’s employees at another plant in a different country whilst telling the same thing to its employees in that other country. There are multi-nationals, which in their countries of ownership accept the prevailing industrial relations culture, for example, social partnership, collective bargaining etc. but adopt an opposite style when they require or establish, productive capacity in another country.

This diversity of industrial relations behaviour is not a plot/conspiracy. The explanation is multi-faceted dependent on local circumstances, the industrial relations culture in a geographical area and local market pressures such as a shortage of skilled labour. An implication of these differences in employment relations styles, policies and practices between, and within, different countries, for employees is that they need to know more about what is the situation in the establishments of the company in all parts of the world in which it operates. This, for example, underlines the advantage of employees and/or their representatives having rights to receive information and to be consulted on proposed changes at the different levels of the multi-national company. More importantly it illustrates the need for employees in every country in which the multi-national company has productive capacity or service provision to meet on a regular basis to collect, and analyze information on the company’s:

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  financial performance to assess its ability to pay improved employment conditions and/or to justify a proposed closure of a plant and/or a transfer work or investment to another location;

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  pay and conditions of employment (wages, hours of work, bonus schemes, holidays, vocational training, etc.) to compare one group of employees relative to another; and

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  employment practices in their plants in different countries to judge if one group is being played off against another.

Having acquired this information the trade unions representing the interests of the company’s employees in different plants in different parts of the world can plan their strategy (and related policies) to provide an effective counterbalance to the power of the multi-national company. Trade unions, to date, have constructed a number of mechanisms involving cross border co-operation to collect such information. It has been done through general information giving forums (for example, World Company Councils) in which employee representatives from the different countries in which the multi-national has operations can meet and by the establishment of databases, which are easily accessible, user friendly for shop floor representatives and updated regularly and by face-to-face meetings. Other exchange of information forums have been bi-lateral and multi-lateral meetings between the appropriate individual unions from the different countries or through the auspices of Global Union Federations. These links have included systematic exchange visits of their senior officers who have specific responsibilities for the national company concerned. They have also involved the creation of a network of plant level union representatives.

April 2007 saw a further development in cross border trade union co-operation. This was the announcement that AMICUS and the Transport at General Workers Union (who in May 2007 merged to form UNITE), both from the UK and the United Steelworkers of the USA had entered into a formal process to prepare the ground for the creation of the first global super trade union within the next 12 months. The new union will represent over 3.4 million members in the USA, Canada, the UK and the Republic of Ireland. It will be the world’s biggest union and is expected to attract other union organisations throughout the world into membership. During the exploration process the two unions will engage in co-ordinated campaigning and common approaches to collective bargaining with multi-national companies. The agreement follows a strategic alliance signed over two years between the former AMICUS and the United Steelworkers. The former AMICUS was the UK’s largest private sector union with more than 1 million members. It was strongly represented in manufacturing and increasingly in the financial services sector. The Transport and General Workers Union had over 800,000 members in a wide range of industries, including motor car manufacture, transport and general manufacturing. US United Steelworkers Union, formed in 1936, has 850,000 members in the US, Canada and the Caribbean. Its members work in manufacture of car components, tyres, brakes, glass, cement, furnaces, air conditioners, furniture, potato crisps, submarines and aircraft carriers. In 2005 it merged with the Paper, Allied Industrial, Chemical and Energy Union and early in 2007 with the Independent Steelworkers Union.

The proposed creation by UNITE and the United Steelworks of a global union for the twenty first century is a public commitment to build a strong relationship and to find ways to more effectively represent and protect workers under the reality of the new global economy. The two unions firmly believe that over the coming years only through greater international solidarity and co-operation can the trade union effectively represent the interests of its members against the threats posed by global capital. The two unions therefore are committed to exploring ways in which co-operation and collaboration between them can be deepened and strengthened, for example, by conducting joint solidarity projects and developing joint global strategic and organizing campaigns.

UNITE and USW have created a formal Merger Exploration Committee consisting of five principal individuals from each union and supported by technical staff as needed. The Committee will study the legal framework, constitutions (Rule Book), rules and regulations and the structure of both unions. The Committee will meet regularly over the next 12 months and suggest a framework for a formal merger between UNITE and USW to create a truly Global Union for the twenty-first century. There will also be a regular exchange between senior officers, to take place every quarter, to monitor and develop areas of joint work and to find ways of integrating common programmes for the near future and to improve the understanding and culture of both unions. The two unions have also committed themselves to provide material and financial resources for joint international solidarity projects with the establishment of a substantial jointly administered fund split between USW and UNITE. Projects include, but are not limited to, support for Columbia’s trade union movement in the face of attacks on labour and human rights and of solidarity work with unions in India and joint exploration of multi-national corporations in China. The two unions have also pledged to develop common approaches to collective bargaining in sectors and multinational companies where their respective membership work using the strength of the two unions to counter balance the interests of global capital to ensure enhanced bargaining outcomes.

An important objective of the multi-national union will be to protect their member’s job interests. In 2006 Peugeot, the French owned car manufacturer, closed its UK plant at Ryton, in Coventry, with the loss of 2,300 jobs. Production was transferred to Slovakia. This was the typical problem faced by unions when a multi-national company exercises its right to manufacture in lower cost countries and the classic situation the proposed global union hopes to prevent. Peugeot’s French and Slovakian workers joined local protests in support of a campaign by the then AMICUS/TGWU to keep the Ryton plant open. The French car workers, however, realised their jobs could just as easily have been at risk whilst the Slovakia car workers were unlikely to turn down more work. Plans, therefore, to create a global (transatlantic) union is unlikely to resolve this dilemma. Will workers in poor economies be prepared to give up jobs opportunities to protect well off workers in the west? One suspects, unfortunately, they will take a lot of persuading.

John Gennard