This dissertation investigates the role of global labor in international relations. I argue that global labor is mainly comprised of two parts: national union organizations and Global Unions. Global Unions are transnational labor organizations (TLOs) with a worldwide membership that were created by national union organizations to represent their interests internationally. I contend that Global Unions perform five interrelated functions for national unions. However, due to the inherent structural weaknesses of Global Unions, it is the national unions that, in fact, remain the critical force behind global labor. Therefore, I focus on the transnational activities of national unions. I identify three conditions that result in incentives for unions to choose strategies of labor transnationalism: the shrinking of national political opportunity structures, the increasing availability of international political opportunity structures, and the adoption of a social union or social movement unionism paradigm for union revitalization. Additionally, I identify three factors that inhibit labor transnationalism among national unions: diminishing resources, turf wars, and cultural barriers. I introduce the concept of complex labor transnationalism as an alternative approach to the more limited traditional practice of labor transnationalism. I disaggregate the activities associated with complex labor transnationalism into six types: communicative transnationalism, political transnationalism, steward transnationalism, protest transnationalism, collaborative transnationalism, and steward transnationalism. Furthermore, I conduct a case study on the state of labor transnationalism in the United States concluding that while most unions take a traditional approach towards labor transnationalism there is some evidence of complex labor transnationalism. Finally, I draw several conclusions about the role of global labor in international relations and outline three areas of potential growth. / Political Science

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No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcus de Oliveira Kaufmann.pdf: 2222812 bytes, checksum: 6d75dda58354e1faf67b592daeb0df6d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-25 / Four themes emerge from the study that is presented in favor of the idea of a associational unionism: the action, on the global ground, of multinational companies; the response of international trade unionism, by its most eloquent actors, towards capital; the ways in which workers can, from the workplace, organize themselves to participate in the governance of the company; and the interrelationship that labour, from the workplace to the international scene, may need to keep to their survival, in an complex environment of collective labour relations, with other types of collective representations of workers, from a non-union nature, assembled by singular means (personnel delegates or elected representatives of workers) or by collective means (committees or commissions of company or factory). The debate about the connections between supposed distant themes provide the material source from which the unions can expect to face the advance of capital, while they can build, from the workplace to the global field, democratic environments for more respectful and equal coexistence between labour and capital. One of the instruments, the study presents, for the union movement, particularly in Brazil, is the idea of a associational unionism, whereby unions, in a vertical orientation, link themselves, with information and experience traffic, by holding minimum rights regarding employee participation in the governance of the company, with various levels through which workers organize from the workplace to the international stage; and, in a horizontal orientation, link themselves, with information and experience traffic through the exploitation of rights of participation in the governance of the company, with collective representations of workers of a non-union nature, from the workplace to the international scene. So far the approach of all those interrelationships is not usual for the industrial relations Law in Brazil, although present though sometimes not so quiet or in a simple manner for the union movement in European countries and to countries seen as the "North", part of the bibliographic references eminently come from European and American perspectives, but not at any time losing the horizon of the political and legal Brazilian scene, as to propose, even in the context of the restrictive Brazilian union model, or beyond that model, new ways for the unionism act and think / Quatro temas afloram do estudo que se apresenta em prol da ideia de um sindicalismo associativo: a atuação, no terreno global, das empresas multinacionais; a resposta do sindicalismo internacional, mediante seus atores mais eloquentes, ao avanço do capital; as formas mediante as quais os trabalhadores podem, desde o local de trabalho, se organizar para participar do governo da empresa; e a inter-relação que o sindicalismo, desde o local de trabalho até o cenário internacional, pode e necessita manter, para a sua sobrevivência, em um ambiente de complexas relações coletivas de trabalho, com outros tipos de representações coletivas de trabalhadores, de perfil unitário e não-sindical, montadas por vias singulares (delegados de pessoal ou representantes eleitos de trabalhadores) ou por vias coletivas (comitês ou comissões de empresa ou de fábrica). O debate em torno das conexões existentes entre supostamente tão distantes temas oferece a fonte material a partir da qual o sindicalismo pode se preparar para enfrentar o avanço do capital, ao mesmo tempo em que pode construir, desde os locais de trabalho até o terreno global, ambientes mais democráticos para a convivência, com maior respeito e equivalência, entre trabalho e capital. Um dos instrumentos que, do estudo, se apresenta para o movimento sindical, particularmente ao brasileiro, é a ideia de um sindicalismo associativo, mediante a qual os sindicatos, em uma orientação vertical, podem estabelecer relações, com tráfego de informações e de experiências, pela exploração de mínimos direitos atinentes à participação dos trabalhadores no governo da empresa, com os diversos níveis por meio dos quais os trabalhadores se organizam desde os locais de trabalho até o cenário internacional; e, em uma orientação horizontal, podem estabelecer relações, com tráfego de informações e de experiências, mediante exploração de direitos de participação no governo da empresa, com representações coletivas de trabalhadores de natureza unitária e não-sindical, desde os locais de trabalho até o cenário internacional. Em razão de a abordagem de todas essas inter-relações não ser usual para o Direito Coletivo do Trabalho no Brasil, embora presente ainda que, por vezes, não tão tranquila para o movimento sindical de países europeus e para os países tidos como do Norte , a pesquisa bibliográfica parte de referências eminentemente europeias e norte-americanas, mas sem, em nenhum momento, perder o horizonte do cenário político e jurídico brasileiro para propor, mesmo em contexto de unicidade, ou para além da unicidade, outra forma de agir e de pensar para o sindicalismo