Constructing Transnational Solidarity: The Role of Campaign Governance

Abstract

Our inductive study of two transnational labour solidarity efforts focuses on the role of campaign governance. Specifically, we study contrasting campaign strategies, tactics and coalition structures in campaigns by two global union federations, UNI Global Union and the IUF, contextualized in terms of how these campaigns unfolded in India. Our contribution consists of two arguments. The first is that a degree of internal consistency amongst different campaign elements is important for success, and the second is that a mode of articulation that allows for local concerns in affiliate countries to find voice in global campaigns is more likely to result in concrete gains at the local level.

Towards a Model of Contractualisation of Labour in India: Testing the Effect of Unionisation of Regular Workers and the Wage Gap

“…So, it is hard to find a contract labour union in India that has been able to increase labour power even in manufacturing. In contrast, what we observed is the regular workers campaigning, protesting, or even striking in the interest of contract labour for regularising them in case contract labourers have joined the union of regular workers (Sarkar & Kuruvilla, 2020). Against this backdrop, I posit that when the principal employer and the contractor succeeded in averting the unionisation of contract labourers, these labourers on their own had not resorted to strikes to gain high wages and their real wages stayed low.…”

The Transnational Labor Alliances Database Project: Methods, Problems, and Progress

“…Examples of recent NGLS scholarship include Webster and O'Brien (2020), Sarkar and Kuruvilla (2020), Frangi and Zhang (2021) and Lohmeyer and Schüßler (2018). 3…”

“…TLA campaigns have been the subject of sustained scholarly inquiry for more than two decades (Sarkar/Kuruvilla 2020;Thomas 2019;Brookes 2019;Zajak et al 2018;Evans 2014Evans , 2010McCallum 2013;Kay 2011;Anner 2011;Fairbrother et al 2011;Croucher/Cotton 2009;Bronfenbrenner 2007;Herod 2003;Harrod/O'Brien 2002;Mazur 2000;Johns 1998). Through careful research, scholars of labour transnationalism have shed light on the dynamics of TLAs and their interactions with employers.…”

Understanding global union repertoires of action

“…There are good and obvious reasons for this focus since unions' ‘terrain of action is largely bounded by the contours of the nation state’ (Hyman, 2007, p. 194). There is also now a substantial body of work that examines international or transnational union campaigns, organizing initiatives, networks, and various forms of agreement‐making (see, e.g., Brookes, 2019; Donaghey & Reinecke, 2018; Fairbrother et al, 2013; Ford, 2019; Helfen & Fichter, 2013; Lévesque et al, 2018; Magdahl & Jordhus‐Lier, 2020; McCallum, 2013; Reinecke & Donaghey, 2022; Sarkar & Kuruvilla, 2020). Yet relatively few studies examine a broader spectrum of GUF activities.…”