The Challenges of Economic Globalization for U.S. Labor

Abstract

This paper critically examines how U.S. labor is responding to the following challenges of economic globalization: (1) the continued shift of capital and labor away from traditionally organized industries and the decline in the centrality of organized labor's traditional interests to national economic policy; (2) the intensifying search for more flexible work-practices in developed nations; (3) labor's inability to match capital's multinational power and dexterity. While the past suggests a pessimistic prognosis regarding U.S. labor's ability to rise to these challenges, more recent developments provide some real glimmers of hope. However, if U.S. unions are to regain ground in the areas discussed, they must capitalize on the present shift in power to rapidly implement proposed changes.