Trade Unions, Globalisation and Internationalism

Ronaldo Munck

This piece reports on recent research around the relationship between trade unions and internationalisation in the context of globalisation. It argues for a more open, less pessimistic view than the dominant one. This view builds on the experiences of the 1970s and is cognisant of the depth of the current crisis.

Transnationalism

Unions and the workers they represent have always been part of a transnational system of labour relations. Capital has always been mobile and the capital/wage-labour relation has never been hermetically contained within national boundaries. However, until quite recently, the dominant system of industrial relations had been confined, almost exclusively, within a national frame. In the 1970s, a ‘new’ international division of labour emerged as the ex-colonial countries began to industrialise and the multinational corporations became central players in the neo-colonial global system. This period saw a major flourishing of transnational labour activity and the hope, soon dashed, that union internationalism could act as a ‘countervailing power’ to that of the multinationals.

Globalization and Taxation: Trends and Consequences

Ilan Strauss

To misuse Marx’s often quoted phrase: governments are in love with tax revenue but ‘the course of true love never did run smooth’. This failed romance should be of concern to those of us who prioritise egalitarian economic outcomes, because taxes and benefits can substantially mitigate the effects of poverty. Among OECD countries, differences in tax and benefit regimes are vital in accounting for differences in poverty rates. After the benefits of tax and welfare are taken into consideration, ‘market poverty’ in north European economies declines by around three quarters, whereas in the US this declines by only one-quarter. For low income economies the development of an effective tax regime can therefore be of great benefit to the working and non-working poor.

Given the above, it is important to ask if globalization has affected the ability of economies to implement an affective and progressive tax regime. And if so how? Although it is a mistake to attribute all the problems facing national tax regimes to globalization, it is equally incorrect to propose that globalization has played no role at all in shaping these issues.

Labour and Economic Reform in Cuba

Anamary M. Linares

Oscar F. Estrada

A changing political context The Cuban economy is unique in many regards; its exceptionality mainly lies in its persistence in building socialism within a largely neoliberal globalised world. The disintegration of the socialist bloc, which accounted for more than 80% of the country’s foreign trade, had a severe impact on Cuba. Since the crisis of the 1990s, provoked by internal structural distortions spurred by the collapse of European socialism, the Cuban economy has been constantly struggling. The nadir point of the crisis was reached in 1993 when GDP was nearly 35% lower than in 1989. Subsequent data showed a remarkable recovery in the performance of the main macroeconomic aggregates. However, the statistics of the last five years reveal an exhausted economic model.

David J.P. Espina

The combination of external factors (global crises, natural disasters, and the US economic blockade) with internal structural distortions, resulting from incomplete reforms initiated in the early 1990s, has produced an ailing economy. Some of the salient symptoms of the current situation include: unsustainable fiscal deficits as a percentage of GDP (amounting to 6.7% in 2008 and 4.8% in 2009); permanent deficits in the trade balance, and especially in the goods sector since exports of professional services help maintain some level of equilibrium; large-scale withholding of payments to foreign creditors and investors; and wages in the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) which are not acting as incentives to increase productivity.

Challenges for Minimum Wage Campaign in South Korea

Lee Changgeun

For the past decade, labour conditions in South Korea can be characterised by rapid increases in precarious work and low pay, both of which have contributed to widening inequality. As of March 2011, precarious workers accounted for 48.5 % of the total labour force (17 million) and low pay rate as the share of wage earners earning below two-thirds of median wages (ILO) was 28% (4.79 million), a jump from 23% in 2001. Not surprisingly, most low paid workers are precarious workers. Almost half of precarious workers are expected to fall into the low-pay trap. In 2011, on average, precarious workers were paid 52.8% less than regular workers. Wage decile ratios have also deteriorated. The D9/D1[1] ratio has grown from 4.81 in 2001 to 5.49 in 2011. It is, therefore, no surprise minimum wages have attracted so much attention in recent years in Korea.