Why International Labor Solidarity?

Mexican activist Beatriz Luján shows solidarity with nurses in Kansas City

International solidarity is cooperation between unions that share common goals but represent workers in different countries. It can be especially important where workers are employed by the same transnational corporation.

Why should we be interested?

When corporate decisions made half a world away can impact jobs and investments with the speed of keystroke, what choice do working people have but to make alliances across national boundaries? When U.S. politicians are beholden to transnational corporations, what choice do U.S. working people have but to make common cause with workers elsewhere in the world?

As corporate globalization draws the world closer together, workers’ rights, wages and working conditions are downsized. Global wages are spiraling downward towards the lowest common denominator — countries where workers make as little as a few dollars a day.

UE made labor history with its pioneering Strategic Organizing Alliance with the Authentic Labor Front, the Frente Autentico del Trabajo (FAT) in Mexico. We also work with labor organizations in a variety of countries including Zenroren in Japan, the CGT in France, the CUT in Brazil, many unions and federations in Quebec, and the Canadian Steel Workers and Canadian Auto Workers, and have joined the ICEM, an international labor organization which links unions in various industries on a global basis.

Are you on the front lines of 'globalization'?

How many plants can you name that have closed over the past twenty years? How many people do you know who are working harder and faster, often for less money? When you buy a new shirt or a new television, chances are good that they were produced outside the U.S. Meanwhile, management tells us we must become "more flexible" and "more competitive," or they will be forced to move or close. So what are our options? As long as transnational corporations can pit workers from different countries against each other, we will be stuck on that globally downward treadmill. The solution is to begin to establish relationships with workers in other countries.

What can be accomplished?

Many things. By communicating with workers in other countries, we can learn about actual conditions - not just about what the bosses wantus to hear. --Once we btrild our relationships, we can support each other - with information or by exerting pressure on our common employers. We all know what a difference unity in the shop can make.

Just imagine if workers in Canada pressured their employer to settle a contract with their U.S. employees who were represented by UE. Or if workers in Japan leafleted a shareholders' meeting in Tokyo with UE flags. Or if a transnational were forced by the members of its works council to sign a neutrality agreement pledging not to interfere with organizing efforts in non-union factories in the U.S. All of these things have happened because of the relationships the UE has built with unions in other countries --and your local can participate in our ongoing work to globalize solidarity!

How Do We Get Started?

All it takes is a little research and the willingness to take the first step toward communication - to write a letter or send an e-mail. UE's International and Research departments are prepared to assist UE locals in developing international relationships. Interested? Check out the links on this page.

Or click here: How-to steps to connect