Globalization and cross-border labor organizing in the garment and automobile industries

The globalization of the world economy provides workers and labor unions with a tremendous challenge. The challenge is that for past thirty years, transnational corporations, like Ford, Hyundai, and Phillips Van-Heusen, have established production facilities and factories all over the world, and in the process, they have divided workers and labor unions against each other in their search for the lowest wages possible. This spatial reorganization of the world economy has generated downward pressure on wages and working conditions and has created a "race to the bottom." Nonetheless, some workers and labor unions have confronted transnational corporations and have begun working together across national boundaries to minimize their ability to pit them against each other. This relatively new practice of cross-border labor organizing is the focus of this study.;In this study, I examine six case studies of cross-border labor organizing in the garment and automobile industries in Mexico, Guatemala, and the United States. The main question of the study is: what factors limit and facilitate cross-border labor organizing in these industries? These case studies indicate that structural opportunities, internally unified and committed labor unions and labor solidarity organizations, and the mobilization of transnational labor coalitions are critical for successful cross-border labor organizing campaigns. However, structural barriers, like corporatist state-labor relations, and internal conflicts within labor unions have limited cross-border labor organizing in both industries. These case studies and their different outcomes have many important lessons for academics and activists who are interested in cross-border labor organizing.