1. Global capital strategies and trade union responses: Towards transnational collective bargaining in Europe?
Prof. Dr. Maarten Keune
ILO ACTRAV Symposium on Collective Bargaining
Geneva, October

2. Globalisation: social dimension absent
Free trade policies, rise in role MNCs, FDI, trade, migration
Cross-border organisation of economic activity
Financialisation
Growing insecurity workers, pressure on wages and working conditions
Failure to give social dimension to trade, investment and financial policies

3. Consequences for democracy and labour-capital relations
Democratic control over capital limited but dependence of societies on capital high  regime competition, capital influences public policy and resources
Global capital but mostly national unions
Capital has more exit options and used threat of relocation
Wage competition between workers
 Increasing bargaining power capital over labour

4. A transnationalising union movement
Global: ITUC, GUFs, ILO workers’ group
Regional confederations (e.g. OATUU, CCSCC, ETUC) and sectoral unions (e.g. EIFs)
Workers Uniting, MNC company networks
European Works Councils, World Works Councils
New alliances with non-union actors
Campaigns, labour standards, industrial action
But no transnational collective bargaining

5. Obstacles to transnational collective bargaining
Limits on trade union freedom
Nationally defined union interests
Limited resources for transnational union activities
Lack of international legal framework
Reluctance employers

6. Developments towards transnational collective bargaining?
Growing number of transnational agreements: IFAs, EWCs
Transnational campaigns
Wage guidelines
Coordination of collective bargaining
Top down
Bottom-up

7. Conclusions No ‘proper’ collective bargaining at transnational level
But number of closely related transnational activities
Development of functional equivalents?
Or overcoming the obstacles to true transnational bargaining?