The Failing Strategy of International Trade Unionism: the Need for a Global Labour Organization

This short book outlines the current activities of the largest transnational trade union organizations, and offers an explanation as to why they are not succeeding in their efforts to curtail the power of global capital. The paper employs Gramsci's notion of a historic bloc and van der Pijl's understanding of the class fractions to examine the dilemma faced by Global Unions in seeking to extend to the global level the industrial relations regimes secured throughout the advanced capitalist countries in the postwar period. It is argued that the historical conditions which afforded organized labour a relatively powerful role in postwar capitalist hegemony have disappeared, and that the current structure of global capitalist hegemony does not offer a similar opportunity for trade unions. By comparing the conditions that facilitated the creation of postwar industrial relations regimes to the current situation, the book hopes to illustrate the historical limitations of trade unionism as an effective form of resistance.