Seeking Social Justice through Globalization: Escaping a Nationalist Perspective

Abstract

in this bold attempt to build a global social movement. The first is the North/South divide, a divide that is deepening under the impact of neo-liberal globalization. Munck devotes a separate chapter to both the North and the South. He concludes the chapter on the South by arguing that the 'social clause is viewed by many in the South as a Northern protectionist measure' (p. 183). The second faultline is the growing 'informalization' of work, especially in the South. This is a process that is becoming increasingly 'feminized'; and it threatens established trade unionism, creating a 'crisis of representation'. Munck provides a useful summary of the innovative responses by trade unions to the 'informal sector' (pp. I I -28) but makes it clear that the successful examples of organization, such as the Self-Employed Workers Association in India (SEWA), must not be seen as a trend (p. 128). This is an important, but exploratory, book that raises many questions. The first is how new is the 'new' labour internationalism and what is the relationship between the 'old' and the 'new'? Could a stronger case could be made for a new labour internationalism if detailed research were done on some of the successful campaigns (such as Rio Tinto) that draw on the new information technology and the new norms of workplace governance that have become part of the discourse of 'corporate citizenship'? What organizational examples are there of a new labour internationalism and how sustainable are they? A second, and linked question, relates to the roots of this 'new' internationalism. To what extent does this new labour internationalism emerge out of the innovative responses by trade unions in the South in their struggle for worker rights during the I970s and g98os? It is during these struggles that workers went beyond the workplace to find allies in their communities locally and internationally. Did these responses that emerged in countries such as Brazil, South Africa and Korea-the Unified Workers' Central (CUT), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the Korean Council of Trade Unions (KCTU)-provide the foundations on which this new form of trade unionism was built?