Transnational Labor Organizing Research Articles

Ports of Transnational Labor Organizing: Anarchism along the Peruvian-Chilean Littoral, 1916–1928

Abstract This article centers cross-border solidarity in the post–War of the Pacific (1879–83) context in Peru and Chile. I examine the ways in which some maritime and port workers in these countries in the early twentieth century created bonds of solidarity despite the reigning nationalism of the day. The article analyzes labor struggles and the move toward industrial organizing in Mollendo, Peru; Chilean Industrial Workers of the World efforts at creating links with Peruvian workers; and police repression after a 1925 strike in Mollendo. I combine an in-depth view of local organizing with the transnational political moves and connections forged by maritime and port workers. They lived and organized in their own ports while also forming bonds with other working-class people in the shared space of the Pacific littoral. Their organizing locally and transnationally challenged the chauvinistic nationalism of the era.

Global Unions, Local Power: The New Spirit of Transnational Labor Organizing

Global Unions, Local Power: The New Spirit of Transnational Labor Organizing

Filling the Half Empty or Half Full Glass and Redirecting the Debate about Labor Transnationalism

Global Unions, Local Power: The New Spirit of Transnational Labor Organizing. By Jamie K. McCallum Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2013. 210 pp., paperback (ISBN-13: 978-0-8014-7862-8). There tend to be two types of labor scholars who study transnationalism: the glass half empty and the glass half full varieties. The former bemoans the optimism of the latter, while the latter defends their optimism. This polarization extends to the assessments of various forms of international labor rights mechanisms, from labor rights protections in free trade agreements, to social clauses in global governance institutions, to codes of conduct, and global framework agreements. The “half empties” argue that these mechanisms lack teeth and have translated into few organizing victories or little improvement to workers' living and working conditions. The “half fulls” generally concede these limitations but assert (full disclosure, I am in this camp) that these new transnational mechanisms can provide new opportunities for transnational relationship and movement building, organizing and mobilization, and alliance building across issue areas (see Kay 2005, 2011a,b; Evans and Kay 2008). In his groundbreaking book, Global Unions, Local Power: The New Spirit of Transnational Labor Organizing , Jamie K. McCallum attempts to bridge the ideological divide. His measured and skeptical assessment of the efficacy of global mechanisms—in this case global framework agreements—will placate the half empties. But his insightful dissection of how they can stimulate local union mobilization and revitalization will satisfy the half fulls. His most significant accomplishment, however, is to demonstrate that perpetuating this dichotomy is the wrong way to think about union politics and success in an era of globalization. He ends his book with a concluding sentence that should have been its first: “Struggles such as these remind us that victory is not as simple as winning; it is about building the power to fight in the first place” (p. 159). Nevertheless, by that final page, it is clear that McCallum has redirected the debate about …

McCallum, Jamie K.Global Unions, Local Power: The New Spirit of Transnational Labor Organizing. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013. 232 pp. $21.95 (paperback).

McCallum, Jamie K.Global Unions, Local Power: The New Spirit of Transnational Labor Organizing. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013. 232 pp. $21.95 (paperback).

Jamie K. McCallum. Global Unions, Local Power: The New Spirit of Transnational Labor Organizing. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2013. xv + 159 pp. ISBN 978-0-8014-7862-8, $21.95 (paper).

Jamie K. McCallum. Global Unions, Local Power: The New Spirit of Transnational Labor Organizing. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2013. xv + 159 pp. ISBN 978-0-8014-7862-8, $21.95 (paper). - Volume 15 Issue 4

Review of McCallum, J. (2013) Global Unions, Local Power: The New Spirit of Transnational Labor Organizing

Review of McCallum, J. (2013) Global Unions, Local Power: The New Spirit of Transnational Labor Organizing

Book Review: Global Unions, Local Power: The New Spirit of Transnational Labor Organizing

Book Review: Global Unions, Local Power: The New Spirit of Transnational Labor Organizing

Globalization and Transnational Labor Organizing: The Honduran Maquiladora Industry and the Kimi Campaign

Globalization and Transnational Labor Organizing: The Honduran Maquiladora Industry and the Kimi Campaign

Globalization and Transnational Labor Organizing

The proliferation of garment industry sweatshops over the past 20 years has generated numerous cross-border (transnational) organizing campaigns involving U.S., Mexican, and Central American labor unions and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). This article examines one such campaign that took place at the Honduran maquiladora factory known as Kimi. The Kimi workers (along with their transnational allies) struggled for six years before they were legally recognized as a union, and they negotiated one of the few collective bargaining agreements in the entire Central American region. The factory eventually shut down, however. Based on Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink's “boomerang effect” model, this case study analyzes why these positive and negative outcomes occurred. It concludes with some observations about “the enemy” and offers short-, medium-, and long-term suggestions for the broader antisweatshop movement.