1st Edition
Unions in a Globalized Environment Changing Borders, Organizational Boundaries and Social Roles
How can American unions survive in our increasingly globalized business environment? With the trend toward multinational corporations, free trade pacts, and dismantling import barriers, organized labor has been steadily losing ground in the United States. This book argues that to reverse this trend, U.S. unions must create ties with workers and unions in other countries, and include the ever-increasing number of immigrant workers in their ranks. And it calls for a shift toward "social movement unionism, " which would change unions' orientation from exclusively market-focused and more toward social issues and rights.
Biography
Bruce Nissen is Program Director at the Center for Labor Research and Studies at Florida International University in Miami. He has published numerous scholarly articles and six books, including Theories of the Labor Movement (coeditor, 1987); Grand Designs: The Impact of Corporate Strategies on Workers, Unions and Communities (coeditor and contributor, 1993); Fighting for Jobs: Case Studies of Labor Community Coalitions Confronting Plant Closings (1995); Unions and Workplace Reorganization (editor and contributor, 1998), and Which Direction for Organized Labor? - Essays on Organizing, Outreach, and Internal Transformations (editor and contributor, 1999). He is coeditor of Labor Studies Journal and an executive board member of the United Association for Labor Education (UALE). Recent research interests include living wage movements and immigrant experiences with organized labor.