The Internationalization of Industrial Relations
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Multinational corporations, by definition, have a multinational work force. However, the trade union institutions which represent the employees of the various subsidiaries have been organized historically on a country basis with little international interaction on industrial relations matters with a specific international employer.' Union organization and representation activities have remained largely on the polycentric level even where their corporate adversariesoperate in an ethnocentric or geocentric fashion. Recently though, international, regional, and national trade union organizations, particularly in the United States and Europe, have become concerned about the problems created by the multinational corporations because of their international nature. To confront these difficulties and to counteract the perceived advantages enjoyed by international firms, the trade union movement is developing a number of different strategies some of which may lead to the internationalization of industrial relations.2 To phrase it in another way, in response to the challenge of the multinational corporation in union-management relations, unions are attempting to internationalize their activities and strength. The prime purpose of this article is to consider those actions designed to increase the international capability of unions through crossnational and international cooperation among unions of different countries. Before doing so, though, it is appropriate to set the stage by discussing first the research procedure, secondly why unions are concerned about multinational corporations, thirdly the nature of union institutions in* This research was supported by funds from the Graduate School of Business and from the University Center for International Studies of the University of Pittsburgh. In addition, the author would like to thank the many union officials who participated in the research of which this paper is only a part. This paper was presented at the Association for Education in International Business meetings in New Orleans, Louisiana, December 28, 1971. Professor Blake is a member of the faculty, of the Graduate School of Business of the University of Pittsburgh. 1. It must be mentioned here that many United States unions are established on a binational basis in that they include a sizable Canadian membership. However, elsewhere the principle of organization is the particular nation-state. 2. For a discussion of a case of internatinal collective bargaining see David H. Blake, "Multinational Corporation, International Union, and International Collective Bargaining: A Case Study of the Political, Social, and Economic Implications of the 1967 UAW-Chrysler Agreement," in Transnational Industrial Relations, ed. by Hans Gunter (London: Macmillan, 1972).
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volved in responding to such firms, and fourthly the types of strategies which have been developed. After th
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