The globalisation of labour: counter-coordination and unionism on the internet

Citation

Grieco, M., Hogan, J. and Martinez Lucio, M. (2005), "The globalisation of labour: counter-coordination and unionism on the internet", Critical Perspectives on International Business, Vol. 1 No. 2/3. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib.2005.29001baa.002

The globalisation of labour: counter-coordination and unionism on the internet

Traditional trade union structures have been slow to realise the capabilities and capacities of the new information technology in respect of the globalisation of labour. Yet the coordinative capabilities of international labour with the advent of the internet are radically enhanced as the actions of workers in the international transport sector demonstrate. The Liverpool Dockers and the Wharfies of Australia demonstrate through their internet-based campaigns the power of labour in counter-coordination in respect of global capital.

Other labour-organised internet-based campaigns are found throughout the developing and developed world. This special issue documents the emergence of these new globalised labour communication strategies in the context of a globalising world of commerce, business and governance. The articles presented in this special issue take a variety of forms and reflect the variations in communication intensities and activities which are a product of the unevenness in globalisation itself.

Within the pages of the special issue are contained the product of the researches of field leaders such as Freeman, Fiorito and Cockfield whose researches have focused primarily on connectivity within the wealthy West. As important, from the perspective of this special issue, are the accounts provided by other contributors of changing communication practices within South Africa, Malaysia, Mexico and the Balkans. There is great variation in patterns and the reader will no doubt have to work along with the authors to encompass the complexities of counter-coordination in both its more developed and its emerging forms, but the journey is worth the effort. The hyperlinks provided in the articles should be visited and weighed in the knowledge that sites are frequently changing and archiving practices that provide the stability of the printed world have yet to be widely adopted. Each article is a request to join a journey and its printed typeface is only one level of experience. We hope that, within this space of a special issue, we have provided sufficient stimulation to attract other scholars and activists to the recording, reviewing and relaying of counter-coordination.

Margaret GriecoProfessor of Transport and Society, Transport Research Institute, Napier University, Edinburgh, UK.John HoganSenior Lecturer in Industrial Relations, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK.Miguel Martinez LucioProfessor, Bradford University School of Management, Bradford, UK.