From Global Unions to the Shop Floor: Trade Union Networks in Transnational Corporations in Brazil

• Main Authors: Ricardo Framil Filho, Leonardo Mello e Silva
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: McMaster University Library Press 2019-09-01
• Series: Global Labour Journal
• Online Access: https://mulpress.mcmaster.ca/globallabour/article/view/3588

This article analyses the origins, development and organisation of cross-union, company-based trade union networks in transnational corporations in the metal and chemical industries in Brazil. Collectively developed by local, national, foreign and international trade union organisations, this kind of union action was introduced in the country in the early 2000s as a way to connect local labour representatives organising workers in different locations within the same company. Networks strengthen local labour power and stimulate transnational connections. Promoting solidarity among workers across multiple factories, they offer the perspective for a global unionism connected to shop-floor organisation. Despite these achievements, networks face important challenges. Power imbalances, the reliance on restrictive social dialogue arrangements and the compromise with traditional structures limit the reach of the strategy.  KEY WORDS: globalisation; trade unions; new labour transnationalism; trade union networks; Brazil