‘Free trade’ strategies have increasingly become a problem for the international labour movement. While trade unions in the North especially in manufacturing have supported free trade agreements to secure export markets for their companies, trade unions in the Global South oppose these agreements, since they often imply deindustrialisation. Especially the expansion of the free trade agenda into services, public procurement, investment, intellectual property rights as well as investor to state dispute settlement provisions are considered to be problematic.
The purpose of this volume is to understand better these dynamics underlying ‘free trade’ policy-making in order to explore possibilities for transnational labour solidarity. Bringing together labour academics with trade union researchers and social movement activists, this volume moves from conceptual reflections about the impact of ‘free trade’ via the analysis of struggles around free trade agreements to considerations of concrete alternatives.
- Andreas Bieler is Professor of Political Economy at the University of Nottingham, UK.
- Bruno Ciccaglione is an Economist and Trade Activist.
- John Hilary is Executive Director of War on Want, UK.
- Ingemar Lindberg is a former Union Researcher with LO, Sweden.
'Free trade agreements have caused countless job losses and posed massive threats to workers’ rights the world over. In an era when agreements covering some 80 per cent of world trade are on the negotiating table and promise worse to come, this important book charts the full range of trade union responses and points the way to transnational alliances of resistance.’
Susan George, author of How to Win the Class War: The Lugano Report II and Honorary President, ATTAC France.
‘This highly original collection examines the challenges and opportunities for labour solidarity in the free trade era. It is essential reading for citizens, scholars and activists working towards a more equitable global economy.’
Robert O’Brien, Professor of Global Labour Issues, McMaster University.
