Globalization and employment relations

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This chapter offers an international focus on contemporary employment relations, which is delivered through an examination of globalization and its implications. Globalization can be understood both as a process involving greater internationalization of economic activity and international labour mobility and as a neo-liberal project designed to open up markets and promote free trade. The question of how far neo-liberal globalization has promoted greater uniformity—or ‘convergence’—in employment relations is a matter of serious debate. Multinational companies (MNCs) are often viewed as powerful agents of convergence. The chapter next examines the influences on employment relations in MNC subsidiaries and considers the part played by MNCs, and their use of global supply chains, in undermining employment conditions and workers' rights and protections. Concerns about a ‘race to the bottom’ in labour standards have prompted a growing interest in how regulation can be established on an international basis. Finally, the chapter examines international trade union responses to globalization. Although globalization has caused unions some major difficulties, their efforts to organize workers and improve labour standards, often by engaging in conflict, are integral features of employment relations in a globalized world.