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Social Regionalism in the Global Economy collects essays by international specialists attempting to move beyond textual analyses of regional agreements to offer new accounts of regional integration by combing insights from developing countries with original analyses from the EU

'Social Regionalism in the Global Economy' collects essays by international specialists attempting to move beyond textual analyses of regional agreements to offer new accounts of regional integration by combing insights from developing countries with original analyses from the EU.

"In einem ersten Schritt betrachten wir das Konzept Gewerkschaftsmacht. Danach nehmen wir jeweils vier Machtressourcen und Akteursfähigkeiten in den Blick, die für gewerkschaftliches Handlungsvermögen entscheidend zu sein scheinen. Insgesamt versuchen wir, Gewerkschaftsmacht in ihren Eigenheiten zu verstehen, das heißt, mit welchen Hebeln sie aktiviert und mit welchen Strategien sie verstärkt werden kann. Dabei lassen wir bewusst viele äußere Faktoren beiseite, die für ein umfassendes Verständnis von Gewerkschaftsmacht notwendig wären und konzentrieren uns auf die Transformationsprozesse, die für gewerkschaftliche Erneuerungsprojekte ausschlaggebend sind." (Textauszug)

Power is at the core of current debates over the future of trade unionism. This article provides a framework to assess the power resources and strategic capabilities central to union capacity building. We identify four key power resources: internal solidarity; network embeddedness; narrative resources that frame understandings and union actions; and infrastructural resources (material, human, processes, policies and programmes). Resources alone are not enough; unions must also be capable of using them. We identify four strategic capabilities: intermediating between contending interests to foster collaborative action and to activate networks; framing; articulating actions over time and space; and learning. Much experimentation and research on the interactions between these resources and capabilities in particular contexts is required to advance our understanding of the renewal of union power.

This article offers an overview of how Mexican unions get involved in international union alliances. It is intended to increase our understanding of the prospects for North-South union cooperation, as the ability to construct international alliances is at the heart of union responses to globalisation. Drawing on data gathered from seven Mexican unions affiliated to the International Metalworking Federation (IMF), the authors distinguish three patterns of union involvement: a localist/defensive pattern, which rests on a narrow conception of solidarity and on sporadic relations, rather limited in scope, with other unions affiliated to the IMF; a nationalist/offensive pattern characterised by a broader view of solidarity and by intense exchange of information with other IMF affiliates; and an internationalist/proactive pattern which rests on the community of interest between workers from different countries and on active cross-border coordination of action. A critical condition for cross-border alliances lies in the existence of several power resources. Without these resources a union cannot overcome the acute constraints that it faces. In conclusion, the authors discuss the prospect of union renewal and union empowerment through North-South international union alliances.

Observant au sein d'un échantillon d'entreprises industrielles syndiquées une tendance chez les employeurs à développer des services spécialisés de santé-sécurité au travail, les auteurs s'intéressent aux facteurs conditionnant cette tendance et à son impact sur le statut et le rôle (décisionnel ou non) du comité de santé-sécurité. Les résultats montrent que la présence de ce type de services favorise l'adoption du modèle de comité de santé-sécurité proposé par la Loi sur la santé et la sécurité au travail. En conclusion, les auteurs explorent la signification d'un tel phénomène.

Deux hypothèses sur l'affaiblissement des identités syndicales sont soumises à une épreuve empirique à partir d'une étudeauprès des syndiqués d'une centrale syndicale au Québec (la Confédération des syndicats nationaux). La première insiste surla différenciation sociale ; la seconde sur l'effet structurant des conditions matérielles de travail et des stratégies des acteurs.Deux dimensions de l'identité syndicale sont étudiées : l'évaluation du caractère essentiel du syndicalisme et l'adhésion auxmodalités d'action les plus caractéristiques du syndicalisme industriel. Les diverses sources de différenciation sociale exercentpeu d'impact sur le caractère essentiel mais touchent lourdement l'adhésion aux modalités d'action. À l'encontre des conditionsmatérielles de travail, les stratégies des acteurs sont très importantes pour les deux dimensions. Les sources de différenciationsociale ne constituent pas une rupture par rapport au syndicalisme mais elles font appel à un renouveau de sesmodalités d'action. Ce renouveau doit partir d'une participation des personnes porteuses de ces nouveaux intérêts dans l'élaborationde nouvelles modalités d'action collectives.

This article proposes experimentation as a framework for understanding actor agency in the changing regulation of work and employment. This involves contrasting institutional change with organisational and institutional experimentation approaches in order to understand how, in the context of uncertainty, actors in the world of work experiment with new ways of organising and seek to institutionalise them into new understandings, norms and rules. The article describes the fault lines of disruption that are generating a vast range of experiments in the world of work. These fault lines invite resilient responses and the development of collective capabilities at two levels: first, organisational experimentation, where social actors seek to modify or renew their organisations, networks and alliances and reflect on, assess and learn from their experiments; second, institutional experimentation, where these responses are scaled up and institutionalised over time through more general understandings, norms and rules. A key challenge for comparative research and strategising is to find the appropriate institutional conditions that will facilitate and enable organisational experiments, whilst overcoming constraining institutional conditions. This challenge is illustrated through the examples of co-working and the development of new forms of collective representation.

This article explores the effects of corporate organizational structure and of subsidiary discretion within multinational companies (MNCs). It draws on a representative survey of the most senior HR practitioner in foreign- and domestic-controlled subsidiaries in Canada. Key findings point to the importance of subsidiary discretion, especially discretion over human resource management. Greater subsidiary discretion is associated with a range of positive outcomes: securing international product and service mandates; greater subsidiary influence within the MNC; the promotion and protection of subsidiary employment (increased headcounts, less offshoring, more onshoring); and enhanced engagement with domestic institutions. These results highlight the strategic importance for union, civil society and public policy actors, as well as MNC subsidiary managers themselves, to focus on the drivers of subsidiary discretion, as opposed to the 'hollowing out' of corporate structures, and to weave that discretion into larger policy narratives to promote local economies.

This article assesses the extent to which the foreign-controlled subsidiaries of multinational firms have the discretion to establish their employment relations policies. Drawing on a survey of the activities of foreign-controlled multinational companies in Canada, it considers three lines of analysis: the parent company's country of origin, the subsidiary's specific organizational capabilities and its position in global value chains. While our results confirm that US-controlled subsidiaries have lower discretion than those from continental Europe and Asia, they also highlight the need to go beyond country-of-origin analysis. Organizational capabilities and the subsidiary's role in global value chains are also important predictors of subsidiary discretion on employment relations policy.