Cross-Border Labor Organizing in the Garment and Automobile Industries
The Phillips Van-Heusen and Ford Cuautitlan Cases
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12433836 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ralph Armbruster (University of California, Santa Barbara, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1998 |
| Pages | 20-51 |
| Publication date | 1998-02-26 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of World-Systems Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1076-156X • E-ISSN: 1076-156X |
| Publisher | University Library System, University of Pittsburgh (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.5195/jwsr.1998.164 |
| OpenAlex | W2342317851 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 22 |
The globalization of the world economy has created new opportunities for cross-border labor organizing. In this paper I examine two case studies of cross -border labor organizing. One case involves Phillips Van-Hernen (PVH) workers in Guatemala City, and the other Ford automobile workers in Cuautitlan, Mexico. The PVH case illustrates the potential for cross-border labor organizing in the highly mobile garment industry. The PVH workers' union and their cross-border allies adopted a "strategic cross-border organizing model" that included consumer and trade pressure, an active international trade secretariat, and several other strategies, to achieve an amazing victory. However, the Ford Cuautitlan case demonstrates that corporatist state-labor relations and internal union conflicts have limited cross-border organizing in the automobile industry. These two case studies and their different outcomes have many important lessons for academics and activists interested in cross-border labor organizing
Auto industry · Automotive industry · Economics · Economy · Globalization · Labor relations · Labour economics · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Victory · Employment, Labor, and Gender Studies · Engineering · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Labor Movements and Unions · Law
Globalization and Cross-Border Labor Organizing
Globalization from Below
Mission Impossible
Local Union Strategies in Cross-Border Alliances
Globalization and Transnational Labor Organizing
Labor Transnationalism and Global Governance
Guatemala in the Global System
The Rule of Law and the Enforcement of the Law
Inequality of rights
Organizing Dissent
Global production
Bitter fruit
Toward a New Internationalism
State and Opposition in Military Brazil
The Emergence of Cross-Border Labor Solidarity
Flexible production in the auto sector
Labor Rights in El Salvador
From a Geography of Labor to a Labor Geography
American Labor and United States Foreign Policy
Mexican State Development Policy and Labor Internationalism, 1945–1958
American Labor and the International Labor Movement 1940 to 1953
Power in the isthmus
The Practice of International Labor Solidarity and the Geography of the Global Economy
The Mexican State and the Political Implications of Economic Restructuring
World Market Competition and Restrictions upon International Trade-Union Policies
The International Labor Movement
The Maquiladora Revolution in Guatemala
Shattered Hope
Trade Unionists Against Terror
Marxism and Communism in Twentieth-Century Mexico
The United States and Chile
| Unique citing works | 9 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,33 |
| Citation span | 1999 - 2015 (17) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 9 |