U.S. unions have developed the instrument of strategic campaigns to overcome
growing employer resistance and political hostility towards union organizing and bargaining. In recent years, campaigning unions have increasingly sought to leverage transnational linkages of target companies, including attempts to employ the support of unions in the company’s “home country.” I explore, firstly, why German unions have often encountered U.S. unions’ strategic campaigns in Germany with scepticism, and secondly, the circumstances under which German unions have been forthcoming with support despite their scepticism. Differences in industrial relations account for the scepticism of German unions regarding strategic campaigns.
Four factors help explain under which circumstances German union support is forthcoming regardless of the scepticism: Political orientation, union strength, industry sector, and target company.
Greven, Thomas (2006): U.S. Unions’ Strategic Campaigns against Transnational Enterprises in Germany
Erschienen in: Industrielle Beziehungen, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 253-269.
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