The International Activities of Trade Unions: A Sociohistorical Analysis Based on the Case of...

T H E I N T E R N A T I O N A L A C T I V I T I E S

O F T R A D E U N I O N S :A S O C I O H I S T O R I C A L A N A L Y S I S

B A S E D O N T H E C A S E O F Q U E B E C

Mona-Josée Gagnon, Thomas Collombat, and Pierre Avignon

The countersummit of the Americas, held in Quebec City in April 2001under the auspices of the Hemispheric Social Alliance (HSA)1 and in opposi-tion to the creation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), promisedto be a prelude to a new phase in how trade unions handle the issue ofglobalization.2 There was hope that trade unions would truly take charge ofthis issue.3 In terms of political organization, logistics, and the number ofactive participants, Quebec trade union organizations dominated the event.Through its publications, educational events, and information sessions atthe national, sectoral, regional, and local levels, Quebec 2001 left manypeople with the impression that the struggle against neoliberal globaliza-tion, which formerly had been the purview and almost exclusive concern ofthe upper echelons of trade unions, had now gained widespread supportamong unionized workers.4

This article addresses two central questions. First, does the mobilizationof Quebec trade unions against neoliberal globalization represent a break,both quantitative and qualitative, in their approach to international tradeunion relations? Second, what does the Quebec example tell us about thesociohistorical dynamics of international trade union relations in theAmericas, and even beyond? We have attempted to investigate thoroughlyhow relations between trade unions have been conducted internationallybefore and after April 2001. For the most part, this study was undertakenat the end of 2002 and the beginning of 2003, with some updates made in2004. Because the world of trade unions is very fragmented, we tried to

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respect the diverse structures of trade unions, no matter how centralized.5

We combined a number of qualitative methods: direct observation of tradeunion events (in Quebec or internationally); participatory observation ofcitizen and trade union events; interviews with union leaders at differentlevels, and analysis of official union publications.

This article is divided into four sections. The first section describes thedifferent international forums in which Quebec trade unions participate,and proposes a new way of classifying them. The second section examineseach organization closely in light of this new classification system. The thirdsection addresses the first of the two central questions, namely whetherthere are any qualitative or quantitative changes in the international activityof the trade unions studied here. The fourth section widens the scope ofanalysis to outline general historical trends.

Overview of the Forums in which Trade Unions Participate The inter-national activities of trade unions tend to be classified according to the typeof activity performed, such as training, cooperation, and representation, orsome similar taxonomy.6 In order to better describe changes and place themin a historical context, we thought it would be more effective to classifytrade union activities according to the international bodies in which theywere undertaken. We have chosen to call these bodies “forums.” They canbe classified into two broad categories.

To begin, we can distinguish between “independent” forums, which ariseoutside of the state structure, and “heterogeneous” forums, within which thestate, employers, and trade unions play a role. This first distinction is basedon the origins of the organization in question. In the former case, the forumarises from a trade union movement itself, often in association with othergroups from civil society.7 In the latter case, it owes its origin to the stateor an international body that chooses to consult labour organizations becauseof the role they play and their representative character. “Heterogeneous”forums, in turn, are divided into two categories: “inclusive” forums and“exclusive” ones. The former (inclusive forums) are organizations in whichthere is official representation from a trade union or civil society. The latter

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(“exclusive” forums) do not allow any representation from a trade union orcivil society, which often leads to the organization of “counterforums” inreaction to this kind of exclusion.

It is also possible to classify forums according to how long they haveexisted. The oldest forums date to the first half of the twentieth century,especially the periods after the two World Wars,8 while many new forumscame into being in the last 25 years as part of the opposition to neoliberalglobalization and the emerging continental focus in economics and politics.Table 1 below illustrates these different models of classification with concreteexamples of institutions that belong to each category.

Table 1. Examples of the Different Forums

Gagnon, Collombat, and Avignon / U N I O N S A N D I N T E R N A T I O N A L I S M

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Autonomous Forums The “established autonomous forums” are organi-zations that have formed the basis of the international trade unionmovement, which initially arose on a sectoral, then a confederative-inter-national, and finally on a continental basis. The development of organizedlabour at the national level follows the same pattern.

The International Trade Secretariats (ITS), recently renamed GlobalUnions Federations (GUFs), were first established at the end of thenineteenth century. The International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) wasformed in 1893 and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF)in 1896. These types of organizations represent unions from a given sectorat the international level. Today, there are some 10 GUFs with membersfrom a range of 65 to 155 countries and 193 to 800 affiliated unions9;together, they represent from 9 to 24 million individual members. Inresponse to the concentration of multinational corporations across differentsectors, new GUFs have emerged more recently.10

GUFs offer training, information, and networking to their affiliates, butalso provide a venue for members to plan action or awareness campaigns.11

Three aspects of these organizations should be emphasized. First of all, forhistorical and regional reasons, GUFs were initially European12; other partsof the world (e.g., Japan; former and current colonies in the Americas) werenot sufficiently developed economically. European hegemony in this fieldwas the natural outcome of this situation and is still true today. Most headoffices are in Europe, especially in the Brussels–Geneva axis. These twocities are also home to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions(ICFTU) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). Regional officeswere gradually opened, most of them in the Americas, particularly LatinAmerica.13 This has led to some tension between affiliates from the devel-oped European and non-European nations and those from the developedand underdeveloped world. Not only are the majority of members European,but the leadership tends to be controlled by a relatively small group of affil-iates (mostly from the Scandinavian countries, Germany, and the UnitedKingdom).

The same pattern is true of financial resources. Thus, 65 percent of fundsfor the Public Services International (PSI) and 66 percent of funds for the


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International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering,Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) come from the contribu-tions of European members. At international conferences, the distributionof votes among members is based on the percentage of financing that theycontribute. At the last international conference of the PSI,14 votes weredistributed in the following manner: Europe 55 percent, the Americas 19percent, the Asia-Pacific region 15 percent, and Africa and Arab nations 11percent — some countries from the southern hemisphere even had theirvotes revoked because they failed to make their payments.15 The secondissue to consider is that there is some competition between GUFs whosefields of activity are not always mutually exclusive. A third point, which isnot limited to GUFs, is that North-South priorities are not easily recon-ciled. It is difficult to agree on global priorities, since human rights aredefined in different ways or not equally recognized and governments aremore or less inclined or determined to respect them. In places where slaveryis still practised, such as Brazil where 25 percent of the people live insubhuman conditions, claims for the right to strike at any time, for a banon moral harassment, or for a universal reduction in the work week seemout of place and seem to have a strong northern bias.

The current make-up of the international trade union confederationsdates to the period immediately after World War II when the former WorldFederation of Trade Unions (WFTU) was dissolved and replaced by twoseparate organizations. The two new bodies respected the spirit of the Yaltaagreements and the anti-communism that for a long time characterized thepost-World War II period (the Cold War).

There is the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU,1949), whose name underscores its rejection of those trade unions affili-ated with the communist regimes.16 Today, it includes 234 nationalorganizations from 152 countries and has a membership of about 148million people.17 The ICFTU is engaged in the following activities: repre-senting unions in international organizations; organizing global campaignslike those against child labour or for the protection of workers throughagreements under the mandate of the World Trade Organization (WTO),and publishing documents that inform and raise the awareness of their


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readers (for example, its annual report on the violation of trade unionrights).

The second organization, the World Federation of Trade Unions(WFTU),18 formerly represented the trade unions of the communist bloc,which had refused to follow the dissidents of the ICFTU as well as theEuropean, African, and Latin American trade union organizations with closeties to their local communist parties. Today, it includes 160 affiliated organi-zations from 74 countries and has 407 million members.19 The WFTU,however, no longer (or only slightly) corresponds to a political reality, sincethe communist bloc has ceased to exist. The trade union organizations itrepresented have maintained the WFTU, along with its head office in Prague(Czech Republic), and in certain cases have kept up operations typical ofstate-controlled trade unions. The more credible affiliates, like the CGIL inItaly20 (i.e., those not subordinated to a state apparatus as are the Cuban orvery marginal trade unions) have parted ways with the WFTU.

The third international confederation is the World Confederation ofLabour (WCL), whose head office is in Brussels. Under the leadership ofMarcel Pepin (CSN) from Quebec, it has demonstrated the resilience ofCatholic organized labour.21 The WCL, however, has seen a decline in itsmembership. It currently includes 144 affiliated organizations from 116countries and has a total membership of 30 million people. The affiliatedorganizations from developed nations — like the CSN from Quebec/Canada,the Confédération française démocratique du travail (CFDT), and the CentralUnica dos Trabalhadores (CUT from Brazil)22 — have left the confedera-tion. At the last meeting of the ICFTU, it was decided that the ICFTUand the WCL would work together to establish a new global confederationof trade unions. Clearly, such a measure would mean the integration of theWCL into the ICFTU. Thus, among the many international forums, theICFTU is henceforth the only confederation of trade unions with strongrepresentative powers.

The Inter-American Regional Organization of Workers (known under itsSpanish acronym, ORIT, founded in 1951) is the branch of the ICFTU inthe Americas.23 It was set up after the ICFTU was established, like the branchesof the latter in other continents, and the American Federation of Labor (which


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supported the anti-communist campaign of the US government) played akey role in its creation. Because of its special allegiances, the ORIT was arather weak organization and came under the supervision of the CentralIntelligence Agency (CIA) and the US State Department during (and beyond)the Cold War.24 The increasing liberalization of trade, the announcement ofthe FTAA, and the relative shift of direction in the American Federation ofLabor–Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) have all led to arenewed involvement in ORIT by North American trade unions and reinvig-orated the organization. It includes 33 confederations of trade unions from29 countries and has a total membership of 45 million people.25

Finally, we should mention bilateral relations that have been and arefrequently maintained by confederations of trade unions from differentcountries because of affinities in culture, politics, and personal relations(i.e., those between trade union leaders). It is impossible to list them allexhaustively, but their importance is undeniable. Relations between labourorganizations from Francophone countries are a good example of this typeof association.

The “new autonomous forums” do not have such a long history. Theyare the result of measures taken towards the end of the 1980s, when tradeunions became aware of the negative effects of trade liberalization in both thenorthern and southern hemispheres. Trade union collaboration from withinmultinational corporations is the most common example of this kind ofinitiative. They vary in their make-up and are more or less of a formal nature.They can be world councils of trade unions at the level of a corporation (e.g.,Volvo, Noranda etc.) or even at the level of a branch or of an industry (suchas education, energy, or aluminum). In certain instances, the creation ofEuropean work committees based on a directive of the Council of theEuropean Union (1994) provided the catalyst. With or without worldcouncils, framework agreements are generally negotiated under the aegis ofGUFs. Thus, from 1998 to 2004, 34 framework agreements were negoti-ated with multinational corporations by five different GUFs. These frameworkagreements should not be confused with codes of conduct (not negotiated),which certain multinational corporations adopt because of pressure fromunions and international non-governmental organizations (INGO). Codes


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of conduct are not monitored and are sometimes part of corporate marketingcampaigns.

Participation at shareholder meetings is the most recent form ofautonomous action and is more or less coordinated.26 The activities of manyNGOs concerned with ethical investment or labour conditions in under-developed nations are important developments in this area.

Heterogeneous Forums Heterogeneous forums are the creation of inter-national bodies. Some of them give official recognition to labourorganizations by allowing them to participate directly or be a part of theconsulting process (inclusive forums), while others do not (exclusive forums).Some of the latter forums have led labour organizations to create counter-forums in response.

Two international institutions functioning as “inclusive heterogeneousforums” — the International Labour Organization (ILO) and theOrganization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) —have each provided mutually distinct platforms for union claims for morethan 50 years. We therefore refer to them as “established inclusive hetero-geneous forums.”27 The ILO is the ancestor of these forums and the onlyone with a tripartite structure.28 Created in 1919 by the Treaty of Versaillesafter the trauma of the First World War, the ILO gave itself a mandate ofpromoting social justice and human rights in the workplace.29 As part ofits objectives, the ILO adopts international conventions on workers’ rights(222 of them as of May 2004), which it then attempts to implement. TheILO, however, has no real powers to enforce them and can only inform thepublic about the violations of these conventions by nation-states.30 Thelatter are free to choose whether or not they adopt the ILO conventions, andtherefore the level of compliance among nation-states varies considerably.31

The OECD was created after the Second World War — it was initiallycalled the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) —to provide guidelines for the reconstruction of Europe (the Marshall Plan).Renamed in 1961, it currently includes 30 member countries and hasrelations with 70 other countries, all of which must respect two principles:democratic pluralism and a market economy. Its official function is to


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strengthen the economies of member countries, while its unofficial role isto help other countries imitate the economic and political practices of thefirst. In fact, the membership of the OECD includes those countries withthe highest gross national product (GNP), or the economic elite of nations.The United States provides 25 percent of its funds. At its inception, theOECD established two parallel advisory committees with representativesfrom management and labour respectively. The Trade Union AdvisoryCommittee (TUAC-OECD) is made up of 56 labour organizations, twoof which are Canadian. It has a limited budget and personnel, but the TUACremains a strategic focal point for international organized labour by providingprivileged information, a space for dialogue between national groups oforganized labour, and political representation within the OECD. Thedecisionmakers within the OECD are strictly from national governments,but the advisory committees are formally consulted at forums and seminars.Civil society organizations (CSOs in the jargon of the OECD) are increas-ingly consulted and have been officially recognized since 2001.32 The TUACalso promotes the implementation of the OECD Guidelines forMultinational Enterprises.33 These guidelines, which cover issues such asthe respect of labour norms, the fight against corruption, or the protectionof the environment, are meant for all enterprises operating in membercountries of the OECD, but also for those multinational firms seeking toestablish a presence in non-member countries.34 The main focus here,however, as in the case of all international regulatory bodies, is to dissemi-nate information that can tarnish the reputation of delinquent enterprisesso that they are forced to change their practices.

The “new inclusive heterogeneous forums” have gained traction withinthe context of the liberalization of trade and the proliferation of internationalagreements in this field. Trade unions are invited only occasionally. In thecase of Quebec and Canada, one thinks immediately of the North AmericanAgreement on Labour Cooperation (NAALC), which was negotiated as acomplementary part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).The NAALC (1994) essentially requires that the three countries respecttheir own laws with regard to human rights in the workplace.35


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Many other bilateral agreements were negotiated between Canada andother countries,36 and in certain instances these agreements also includedannexes on labour issues. Whether the annexes exist or not, it is clear thatthese initiatives have opened up yet another field of activity for unions (realor virtual). Finally, the World Trade Organization (WTO), created in 1993,has been set up in such a way that all decisionmaking is restricted to its 147member countries. Union representatives are limited to certain events: forinstance, diplomatic gatherings like those between ministers can providean opportunity for Canadian and Quebec union leaders to be part of theproceedings, albeit as a small minority.37

In certain countries, problems related to free trade have led the govern-ments to establish specific advisory bodies (ad hoc committees or permanentinstitutions). As far as trade unions are concerned, the liberalization of tradeat all levels has therefore led to a proliferation of different “inclusive hetero-geneous” forums.

Along the same lines, we should mention that UN agencies other thanthe ILO (especially the UN itself and UNESCO) are responsible for manyinternational events in which trade unions are invited to participate.38 Finally,an atypical example of this kind of forum is the Organisation internationalede la francophonie,39 which, since 1989 (Dakar), has had a trade uniondepartment under the aegis of the ICFTU. It includes 68 labour organiza-tions from 34 countries and has a membership of eight million workers.

Generally speaking, labour organizations whose representatives partici-pate in “inclusive international forums” are subsidized by the relevantgovernments or world bodies.

The category of “established exclusive heterogeneous forums” offers nomaterial for discussion. These groups simply did not exist in the periodsafter the two World Wars or even during the Cold War. When discussingexclusive heterogeneous forums, we leave out those organizations on whichtrade unions have no bearing, or with which they are not concerned. Thiscategory, therefore, has to do exclusively with those organizations or initia-tives whose relevance for trade unions is clear and significant. The latter,precisely because they are excluded, react by creating counterforums. Thesecounterforums can be an extension of government forums and are thus


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limited to a specific time and place, or they can be initiatives that arecompletely independent of government forums. These counterforums are,to varying degrees, open to civil society organizations (NGOs and INGOs)and are subsidized by governments.40

“New exclusive heterogeneous forums” began to appear in the 1980s.The World Economic Forums (WEF), held in the tranquil Swiss Alps(Davos), bring the world’s political and economic leaders together with aselect group of experts and gurus who are generally regarded as media person-alities.41 Two events have been organized in response to them. On the onehand, in Davos itself, NGOs and labour organizations hold a counterforumthat does not make any real decisions because it is not a formal organiza-tion, but at least allows for an exchange of ideas. At this event, as elsewhere,trade unions and NGOs find themselves on the same side of the fence, eventhough there are many areas of mutual incomprehension and the real differ-ences between the two are compounded by their disparate structures andmodes of operation. On the other hand, World Social Forums (WSF)organized as a direct response to the WEF have become annual events since2001.42 The first WSF took place in Brazil in the now well known town ofPorto Alegre, which also hosted WSFs in 2002, 2003, and 2005. In 2004,the WSF was held in Bombay (Mumbai), India. Likewise, WSFs are notevents where real decisions are made. Rather, they are assorted gatheringsof intellectuals, media personalities, and people with an informal mandateto represent anywhere from hundreds of thousands of people to a handfulof militants. They are events where discussions are held, ideas exchanged,and “decisions” made through consensus of the main participants. Thoughthe trade unions rub shoulders with the NGOs, they also play a predomi-nant role on account of their financial resources and their ability to mobilizea large following — in short, they have the ability to confer legitimacy onthe gathering.43 These periodic gatherings are literally “voluntary associa-tions” that must repeatedly forge an identity and thus always run the riskof losing it, since they lack a true institutional structure.

Within the Americas, the Hemispheric Social Alliance (HSA) was bornin 1997 in Belo Horizonte (Brazil) as a reaction to the FTAA. It is composedof national opposition coalitions that came into existence during the struggle


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against the FTAA and fit into each other like Russian stacking dolls. TheHSA is the source of a manifesto entitled “Alternatives for the Americas,”one of the most complete platforms that has come from labour and socialmovements in response to free trade agreements.44

Finally, certain international events (the G8 summit, for example, whichin theory consists of the largest economies of the planet) have correspondingparallel gatherings convened and subsidized by governments. The gather-ings offer a session for the presentation of grievances as the case may be.Unlike other similar events, these countergatherings do not have represen-tatives from civil society.45 In sum, whether they can be held or not dependson the host government.

Involvement of Quebec Trade Unions in the ForumsOverview of the Confederative Organizations As mentioned in the intro-duction, this study is particularly interested in the three largest central labourcongresses in Quebec, whose membership comprises 73 percent of theprovince’s unionized labour. The Québec Federation of Labour (QFL) repre-sents about 500,000 workers. Founded in 1957 by the combined forces ofindustrial and craft unions, it corresponds to the “traditional” branch oforganized labour in North America inspired by the AFL-CIO. Very decen-tralized, it consists of union locals of Canadian and “international” tradeunions,46 and is affiliated with the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), butretains a very large degree of autonomy in comparison with other provin-cial federations. It is the most representative labour confederation of theprivate sector.

The Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) has 280,000 members.It succeeded the Confédération des travailleurs catholiques du Canada (CTCC),which was founded in 1921 and was based on the encyclical Rerum Novarum.Secularized in the 1960s — while keeping a form of organization that gavea great deal of power to the confederative authorities — the CSN has defineditself essentially as a Quebec organization, though some of its membershipis from other Canadian provinces. The CSN is the labour confederationwith the highest representation in the public sector, and its members in theareas of health and social services account for half of its constituency.


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The Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) has almost 170,000 members.Previously known as the Centrale de l’enseignement du Québec (CEQ), theCSQ operates almost exclusively in the field of education and enjoys avirtual monopoly in representing teachers at the primary and secondarylevels.47 It has been trying in the last few years to become involved in othersectors like health, social services, and culture.

Having defined the main characteristics of the international activitiesundertaken by Quebec trade unions, we will now describe them whilekeeping to the typology that we have already established.

Autonomous Forums The involvement of trade unions in “establishedautonomous forums” (e.g., GUFs and world confederations) was for a longtime shaped by the Cold War. This was also the case in Quebec, where theQFL, a labour confederation without political or religious affiliations, soonjoined the ranks of the ICFTU by virtue of the CLC’s membership in it.An agreement reached between the CLC and QFL in 1993 guarantees thatthe latter can participate in international decisionmaking bodies as part ofthe CLC delegation — a privilege enjoyed by no other provincial federa-tion. As for the CSN, because of its Catholic roots it joined the WCL, butlike other secularized trade unions it changed allegiances at the end of theCold War and thus joined the ICFTU in 1998. Like some other members,it claims that it is trying to widen the mandate of the ICFTU so that thisconfederation can move beyond mere representation and focus on mobiliza-tion. It thus shares a “centralizing” vision within the ICFTU, which recallsthe very organization of the CSN itself. The CSQ is not a full member ofany world confederation but has very close relations with the ICFTU.

Quebec membership in GUFs follows the same pattern. Without anyformal ties to the ICFTU, GUFs remain nonetheless very close to it. Labourconfederations that are members of the ICFTU are therefore more involvedin GUFs.

Trade unions in the QFL participate in many GUFs and sometimes evenhave memberships in several of them. Some have diversified their recruit-ment strategies on account of a decline in the traditional industries thatwere a good source of new members. Because certain GUFs operate within


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common parameters, it can happen that trade unions in the QFL do notknow to which of these they should turn. The trade unions of Hydro-Québec are in such a situation;48 they are affiliated with the Canadian Unionof Public Employees (CUPE) — and thus members of the PSI — butnonetheless become involved in many undertakings with other GUFs towhom they feel closer, notably the UNI.

Later to join the ICFTU, the CSN also became involved in GUFs at alater date. While some of its federations were quick to join the GUFs corre-sponding to their sector (e.g., teachers, workers in communications, or inthe wood and paper industries), others seem less interested, or are preventedfrom doing so, by trade unions from the QFL, which have a veto on newmemberships. The Fédération du commerce was not able to join the ranks ofthe IUF for this very reason.49 The CSN has slackened its efforts in gettingits federations to join GUFs because of such obstacles and its desire tostrengthen the role of the ICFTU.

The CSQ is a member of the two GUFs relevant to the sectors in whichit operates. There is the Education International (EI), in which it has operatedfor many years, and the PSI, which it joined officially in 2004. The latternew membership reflects its desire to expand in the areas of health andsocial services.

On a regional level, the QFL and the CSN are members of the ORIT,which is the ICFTU’s branch on this continent and is based in Caracas,Venezuela; it is strongly influenced by its Latin American members.50 Onthe other hand, the CSQ is a member of the Confédération des éducateursaméricains (CEA), of which the FNEEQ-CSN is also a member.

Bilateral relations maintained by Quebec trade unions are of two types:there are “diplomatic” ties and helping relationships. Associated with manyorganizations throughout the world, Quebec labour confederations alsoenjoy close relations with Francophone organizations from other countriesin the northern hemisphere. Trade unions from France in particular, andBelgium to a lesser extent, are the regular and privileged interlocutors ofthe three organizations that we have been studying. Because of its origins,the QFL has maintained ties on a regular basis with trade unions from theUnited States. All of these ties can be subject to some turbulence, especially


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when Canadian trade unions want to affirm their independence from theirinternational counterparts. For its part, the CSN has established ties withLatin American labour confederations like the CUT from Brazil with whichit has undertaken joint research projects.

Programs of so-called “international cooperation,” which refer to aidprojects for trade unions in the southern hemisphere, can vary slightlydepending on the labour confederations. They do have one point incommon, however: their financing. The funds designated for internationaloperations of limited duration usually come from the Canadian InternationalDevelopment Agency (CIDA, a federal government agency), and to a lesserextent, from Quebec’s Ministère des Relations internationales (MRI).

The QFL has been involved for several years in “training programs fortraining officers,” notably in French-speaking Africa. Its affiliated tradeunions have their own programs and some have even been innovative inthe last few years by introducing into their collective agreement a provisionthat creates a “humanity fund.” This fund is put into effect on the basis ofthe procedural rules specific to each trade union or local union. Thus, nofund is permanent because it is sometimes negotiated with the employer aspart of the collective agreement and at other times made possible only bythe generosity of the workers. The provision most often agreed upon throughnegotiations seems to be the one stipulating that employees will contributeup to one cent for each hour of work.

Thanks to these funds, many international union activities have come tofruition. One example is the assistance that funds from the CEP providedfor Maria Elena Cuadra, a Nicaraguan organization offering aid to thecountry’s workers and unemployed. It is also worth mentioning the supportthat funds from the United Steelworkers of America provided for theNational Union of Building, Timber and Mining Workers in Mozambiqueto establish a union education branch.

The CSN also allocates a part of its budget for programs that promotethe “transmission of knowledge” in French-speaking Africa, and it managesprojects in Latin America jointly with CIDA, notably to promote the statusof women and also to strengthen and further globalize local unions. It also


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encourages its members to contribute voluntarily to a Third World Alliancefund that finances self-subsistence projects in the southern hemisphere.

The CSQ has been involved for many years in projects that it financesin partnership with CIDA and the MRI. It has concentrated its activitiesin Latin America and the French-speaking world, with a special focus onteachers’ unions.51 To avoid redundant efforts, it resorts to its bilateralrelationships and established networks in international trade union associ-ations in order to better coordinate its activities with those of other teachers’unions in the northern hemisphere (especially the Francophone ones).

It is important to remember that, in the 1970s, the CSN and the CSQlaunched the Centre international de solidarité ouvrière (CISO), whose objec-tive was to establish a common framework for their international cooperation


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Table 3. Humanity Funds Set Up by Canadian Trade Unions

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projects. In the 1980s, the CSN left the CISO, though it continued toparticipate through some of its affiliated organizations, and the QFL recentlyrejoined it. The CISO also manages educational projects and continues tohave exchanges with organizations from countries in the southernhemisphere. Likewise, it recently launched a campaign against sweatshops.

Quebec labour organizations have developed two new types of“autonomous forums.” Quebec trade unions are increasingly moving towardsgreater union cooperation within both corporations and economic sectors.This development comes mostly from unions present in the private sector,since they have more regular dealings with employers from multinationalfirms. The GUFs often play a central role in these initiatives without directlyparticipating in them on a systematic basis.

In Quebec, the QFL is most active in this area because of the prove-nance of its membership. Thus, an Aluminum Industry Working Groupwithin the IMF — established at an international conference in Montrealin October 2003 — owes its origins to the Quebec branch of the UnitedSteelworkers of America, the Syndicat des Métallos québécois. After thetakeover of the French firm Péchiney by Alcan of Canada, trade unions inthis sector felt compelled to come together, share their experiences, andeventually take joint action.

Also within the QFL, Hydro-Québec unions in CUPE have enjoyed veryclose relations for several years with Latin American trade unions repre-senting workers at the Quebec state-owned corporation’s subsidiaries inLatin America. Established initially through personal contacts, these tieshave become permanent, especially within the Pan-American framework ofthe GUF known as UNI.

Though less active in this sector, certain federations of the CSN alsoparticipate in it, primarily the one representing metalworkers, which istrying to develop ties with Bombardier unions in Germany. Likewise, theFédération des travailleurs du papier et de la forêt (FTPF) is following closelythe efforts of the ICEM with multinationals in the timber industry.

The second aspect of the “new autonomous forums” category has to dowith direct participation in shareholders’ meetings. North American trade


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unions, reacting to a lack of funds in public pension plans, negotiatedcompany pension plans in both the private and public sectors. These pensionfunds, often worth millions, turn around and invest in companies listed onthe stock market. Quebec law on company pension plans is formulated insuch a way that it grants unions the right of access to information on theseinvestments, a fact that distinguishes Quebec from other regional jurisdic-tions (i.e., the Canadian provinces and the states in the United States).Actions of this type, therefore, constitute a new type of involvement in theinternational activity upon which Quebec trade unions have increasinglyembarked. This is especially true of trade unions affiliated with the QFL,since the latter has the highest representation in the private sector. Withinthe framework of a Canadian organization (the Shareholder Association forResearch and Education (SHARE)) as well as in a working committee of theTUAC (OECD), the QFL trains union pension plan managers to identifyand denounce companies that violate international conventions in devel-oping nations (with the support of NGOs that have expertise in this area).Besides action taken in the parity committees of the respective pensionplans, union officials join forces to make proposals at shareholders’ meetings— and they are beginning to enjoy some success, since media coverage ofthe violations of human rights that are denounced by union officials has adirect bearing on the image of corporations.52

Heterogeneous Forums As far as “established inclusive heterogeneousforums” are concerned, Quebec involvement in the ILO and the TUACresembles somewhat its involvement in the ICFTU. The QFL and the CSNare members of the Canadian delegation of the ILO — in both Canadiandelegations (ICFTU and ILO), the QFL participates jointly with the CLCby virtue of the agreement of 1993. With respect to the TUAC, however,the QFL decided not to apply the terms of the agreement and thus permitthe CLC to attend on its behalf, together with the CSN, in order to repre-sent Canadian workers. While it is not a member of either body, the CSQmaintains regular relations with both.

With regard to “new inclusive heterogeneous forums,” Quebec tradeunions have been invited to participate in some forums convened by govern-


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ments at the international, national, and regional levels.53 Their involve-ment in each, however, can vary.

At the international level, all three Quebec unions that participate in theFrancophonie syndicale — the QFL, the CSN, and the CSQ — use itprimarily to coordinate their aid to the South more effectively with otherlabour organizations. The Francophonie syndicale allows Quebec labourconfederations to meet simultaneously with French or Belgian partners andwith Francophone organizations from the southern hemisphere with whomthey are working.

At the continental level, the NAALC is clearly the most advanced inclu-sive heterogeneous forum. Formed in response to pressure from the labourmovement (especially in the USA) when NAFTA was being negotiated,54 thisagreement established a relatively complex set of recourses that allow tradeunions to force companies to observe a certain number of minimal rightsfor workers. Nonetheless, recourse of this type is so complex and time-consuming that, at present, not many trade unions have chosen this line ofaction. There were only four undertakings of this kind by Canadian tradeunions between 1995 and 2003.55

At the Quebec level, we can cite the failed attempt to set up theObservatory on Globalization with which the labour confederations wouldhave been associated. The idea was launched by the last Parti Québécoisgovernment on the basis of the French model, but was later abandoned bythe Liberal Party of Quebec as soon as it came to power in 2003. The tradeunions were unanimous in denouncing this decision and emphasized theirdesire to see such a mechanism become a reality in Quebec.

“Exclusive heterogeneous forums,” without a doubt, make up the categorythat has seen the greatest expansion in the last few years. It is important toremember that we are dealing with “twofold” events in this case, namelythat for each exclusive forum (denying trade unions an official presence)there is a corresponding counterforum whose objective is to contest theformer and often to propose an alternative. Once again, different levels oforganization — global, regional, and sectoral — come into play.

On the global level, beyond what we regard today as the traditionaldemonstrations at meetings of international financial institutions, the World


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Social Forum, which was organized in response to the World EconomicForum in Davos, is thought to be one of the most important annual meetingsfor both trade unions and the alternative globalization movement. The factthat its first meetings were held in the Americas allowed Quebec unions tobe active participants. Geographical proximity — together with ties to theLatin American trade unions united in their struggle against Pan-Americanfree trade — has permitted the QFL, CSN, and CSQ to send delegationson a regular basis. However, certain members of these delegations empha-size that the WSF’s decision to focus primarily on facilitating exchangesrather than making decisions has damaged its credibility among trade unionmembers. The participation of labour confederations or some of their affil-iated organizations could therefore be weakened, if not entirely undermined.

Free trade in the Americas has been one of the most powerful catalystsfor international labour activity in Quebec in the last few years. Beginningapproximately with the denunciations of the Canada–US Free TradeAgreement (CUSFTA) in the 1980s and continuing when NAFTA wasbeing negotiated, the struggle against free trade gradually led labour organi-zations and other social movements to found the Réseau québécois surl’intégration continentale (RQIC) in 1994. Today, the FTAA project is themain focus of this coalition, which was one of the organizers of the People’sSummit in Quebec City (April 2001). Based on the RQIC and similar coali-tions established in both North and South America, the HSA was launchedin 1998. The QFL, CSN, and CSQ have played a central role in thismovement from the outset and they give related activities serious consid-eration when they formulate their respective action plans. Even though theQFL abstained, for strategic reasons, from one of the more recent large-scale activities of the RQIC, it remains a member of the coalition nonetheless,and is determined to continue its association with it.56

The CSQ, for its part, took advantage of the People’s Summit in QuebecCity to launch the Hemispheric Secretariat on Education, a network ofrepresentatives from trade unions and civil society having to do with educa-tion in the Americas. The group monitors the progress of free tradeagreements in the field of education. The head office of the Secretariat,which has members from the entire continent, is in Quebec City.


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As another example of sector-based forums, the CUPE trade unions ofHydro-Québec took part in establishing the “S7” in response to the “E7”meetings launched by seven major players in the energy sector, among whichwas Hydro-Québec. After a promising beginning, the S7 is today experi-encing difficulties owing in equal measure to problems financing the travelcosts of delegations and to conflicts between trade unions.

A Transformation Less Pronounced than Anticipated In the section ofthis discussion about the international activities of Quebec trade unions,we should recall our initial question. Are we witnessing a transformation,quantitative or qualitative, in trade union practices within the ambit ofinternational relations as a result of the new face of globalization? Twopremises form the background of this question. On one hand, the mediaprovide much more pronounced coverage of proceedings at the WTO andother forums associated with the liberalization of trade. Consequently, therelated controversies are amplified by media coverage and receive more atten-tion, both from trade unions and observers.57 On the other hand, it isimportant to remember that the discursive and non-discursive practices oftrade unions are transformed not only by “ideologies” but also by strategicconsiderations addressing internal and external factors.58 Concerns revolvingaround the media and competition between local unions thus play a signif-icant role in the international activities of trade unions — the latter beingof such a nature that they are formulated on the basis of a “grammar ofpublic life,” so to speak.59 What can we conclude?

We could be under the impression that every kind of international activityby trade unions has multiplied. In fact, educational activities are aswidespread as before, while activities related to representation and cooper-ation seem to have increased (e.g., creation of new forums and developmentof new activities). However, we can identify two countertendencies to thisapparent “hyperactivity.”

First, we must recall that the legal framework furnished by the New Dealdetermined that the basic role of trade unions in North America (outsideof Mexico) was local organization, together with the negotiation and admin-istration of a collective agreement. In these very decentralized types of


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structures, financial and human resources are concentrated in sector-basedorganizations. A minor drawback of this arrangement is that these organi-zations, by nature, are not inclined to international activity; a more importantproblem is that they are no longer really sector-based because of mergersbetween unions and recruitment strategies spanning different economicsectors. By contrast, international activity by trade unions is naturally inclinedto a sector-based approach.60 The active membership (which participates indecisionmaking bodies) naturally places a high value on the quality andquantity of services rendered by a given labour organization.61 But even ifthe latter shows a greater awareness than before in the area of internationaltrade union activities, it will only ever receive its proportional share of unionresources.62 For these reasons, the strategy of a “humanity fund” devised bytrade unions affiliated with the QFL and the CLC seems very promisingbecause it grants a relative permanence to the budget allocated for interna-tional activities and, in some cases, guarantees the growth of this budget.

Next, we must gauge the extent of the legal and sociohistorical dividethat separates labour organizations in the United States, Canada, and Quebecfrom those in the southern hemisphere (including Mexico). By contrast,labour organizations in Western Europe (except those in the UnitedKingdom) have much more in common, especially if we take into accountthe legal framework in which they evolve and its long tradition of interna-tional relations. In countries south of the 32nd parallel, many factors haveendowed trade unions with structures and practices that are diametricallyopposed to those in the North. What are these determining factors in theSouth? The most important are as follows: economic development has comelate to this region;63 there is a large underground economy, and there havebeen periods of dictatorship interspersed with more or less democraticregimes — depending on the country, this last point has meant either brutalrepression, cooption,64 or even both. Other factors having to do with thelabour organizations themselves must also be considered, such as the influ-ence of the Catholic labour movement, which produced a centralized formof organized labour that existed alongside the ICFTU and the GUFs. Finally,trade unions in the South were also victims of manipulation (consentingvictims to varying degrees), trapped between the siren songs of the ICFTU


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and the WFTU during the Cold War.65 “Capitalist” and “communist”courted the favours of labour organizations in the South (with generouspayments and lavish travel arrangements) and the latter were torn apart bycauses that were foreign to them.66

Today, the state of the labour movement differs from one country to thenext, despite the points in common just mentioned. Let us consider Brazil,where we spent a period doing research in 2003.67 The country has a legalframework that includes the following characteristics: the state plays animportant role in regulating labour conditions and the operations of tradeunions; unionization is based on socioprofessional factors, and the opera-tions of trade unions are very centralized, which weakens their efficacy inthe actual workplace environment.68 The legal framework overshadows thepractices of trade unions, even if this does not fall officially within its purview.The semi-voluntary character of the legal framework shaping trade unionpractices in North America is in direct opposition to the framework deter-mining the practices, principles, and “grand narratives” of their counterpartsin the South and in European nations of Latin descent. Many Brazilianpublications in law and the social sciences criticize the existing legal frame-work as an illegitimate offspring of Mussolini’s legal code, against whichno one has dared take action.69 Brazilian studies of organized labour aremostly of a sociopolitical nature, since trade unions have little or no influ-ence on labour conditions and relations in the workplace.70

An environment of this type is not at all propitious for establishing realforms of solidarity, as, for example, between trade unions operating in thesame multinational corporations. The Brazilian labour movement is there-fore strong at the top of the hierarchy but weak at its base, while NorthAmerican labour organizations have the opposite characteristics. What ismore, the situation of trade union leaders in Brazil is unstable because theyare political appointees, while in North America there is a large body ofsalaried officials (which favours bureaucratization — but also continuity).To complicate matters further, how can a solidarity between North andSouth be fostered if, in the northern countries, trade unions from the samecorporation or the same sector have different allegiances within the labourmovement and so come to act as rivals?71


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These observations, when taken together with the results of our fieldinvestigations, have led us to reevaluate the common view that the world’strade unions are making progress slowly but surely in the vast field of inter-national trade union relations.72 Certainly there is, among trade unionmembers, an increased awareness of issues relating to globalization and theliberalization of trade, but this is true of every other sector and of publicopinion in general. We have discovered only a handful of cases of innova-tive collaboration and have not yet discerned any development that couldtransform intermittent and sporadic ties into steady and permanent relations.Are there more international relations between trade unions than in thepast? Yes, but they are essentially relations which we can describe as diplo-matic, whether having to do with representation or cooperation, and aretherefore types of activity that have existed for as long as there have beentrade unions on this planet. These types of relations, which have prolifer-ated by means of new technologies, tend, for the most part, to involve unionofficials at higher levels (i.e., elected politicians or union leaders). Situatingour analysis within a “répertoire” of sociopolitical action,73 we can say thatthe répertoire of international trade union activity has grown, that the virtualarenas of activity have multiplied, but that labour organizations are havinga hard time ensuring there is a follow-up to these initiatives, and simplydrawing a benefit from them.

Sociohistorical Dynamics of International Trade Union Action We cannow reflect on wider conclusions about the sociohistorical dynamics ofinternational trade union action. We can easily widen our scope since, evenif this study deals primarily with Quebec trade unions, by its very naturethis category of trade union action takes us beyond the boundaries ofQuebec. Three concluding statements follow.

Our diachronic outline (established/new) of the different forums in whichQuebec trade unions participate has permitted us, first, to discern thestronger tendencies in this area. First, there are autonomous forums thatwere initially incorporated within trade unions, but later arose in responseto instances of exclusion or for a better coordination of representation. Next,we have inclusive heterogeneous forums, which are being formed less and


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less frequently. Finally, there are exclusive heterogeneous forums, whichinitially did not exist but are becoming ever more common. These pointssuggest that, beyond the mere succession of different activities, we can alsodiscern a certain dynamic at work; in other words, it is possible to identifya certain logic underlying international trade union activities. Such an insighthas a direct bearing on reflections about the forms of opportunity availableto social movements74 — forms that partly determine the reactions of thelatter. To return to the categories from our first table, we can now look at themwith the following sequence of three different phases in mind. At first, labourorganizations were inclined towards autonomy (from the state) and a refusalof institutionalization as they embraced an internationalist labour movement(the Internationals and the GUFs). In a second phase, it became possiblefor labour organizations to participate in activities at the level of the state orof international organizations (ILO, OEEC-OECD in the beginning) andthey took the first steps towards becoming institutionalized. This develop-ment is what we have referred to as a “participation in inclusive heterogeneousorganizations.” In a third phase, labour organizations found that they wereexcluded from new levels of decisionmaking75 — such as the negotiationsof commercial treaties — and thus they were brought together as anautonomous movement united against these new decisionmaking bodies.We have referred to this development as “opposition to exclusive heteroge-neous forums.”76 Table 4 below provides an illustration of this point.

In the second concluding statement, we assert that it is possible to discernthe beginning of a process of marginalization of the labour movement,which must now share its sphere of representation with other organizationsfrom civil society — a clear departure from the neocorporatist model of the1970s.77 On one hand, to some extent trade unions have become dependenton the many NGO-INGOs that hold unparalleled expertise in areas suchas human rights in the workplace, ethical investments, and sustainable devel-opment. We could emphasize the complementary contributions of both,but it is obvious that trade unions would find it difficult to remain effec-tive in the international arena without the work of NGO-INGOs.78 Onthe other hand, it is undeniable that organizations representing civil society(other than trade unions) have earned some legitimacy over the last few


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decades. They are officially consulted within the European Union or theOAS.79 They participate as the equals of trade unions in the new so-calledautonomous forums (e.g., countersummits, World Social Forums etc.) andtend even to replace them (OAS).80 It has reached such a point that the


33

Table 4. Dynamic of the New Forums Based on the Quebec Case

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“elite” of alternative globalization has as many representatives from NGO-INGOs as from trade unions.81

Our third concluding statement draws attention to the parallels that canbe established between two phenomena: first, the actions of trade unions andthe treatment they receive in the process of consultation at the internationallevel, and second, the development of capitalism in the twentieth centuryand of corresponding regulatory mechanisms at the state level. To beginwith, the volume of commercial exchanges and flow of capital has followeda U-shaped curve on a graph; namely, it was high in the first quarter of thecentury, then declined, and finally rose at the beginning of the 1970s.82 Wecan only conclude that these three phases correspond to the ones we estab-lished for international trade union forums. We also see that the developmentof autonomous forums seems to correspond to periods of open economicexchange, while heterogeneous forums arose primarily at a time when stateswere more protectionist.

As a second point, several authors have distinguished three historicalphases in the mechanisms of state regulation, ranging from a liberal phase(open economy with little state regulation) to an interventionist phase(closed economy and increase in state regulation), which in turn was gradu-ally succeeded by the extreme form of neoliberalism (borderless economyand weakened state regulation) that we are now witnessing.83 These threephases correspond respectively to the initial ignorance of states with regardto labour organizations, the tolerance that followed, and the reversal of thelast decades. It would be an interesting line of inquiry, therefore, to estab-lish parallels for each of the three periods between two phenomena: therelations between the state, employers and unions at the national level onthe one hand, and the development of trade union forums at the interna-tional level on the other.

Conclusion Our research and reflections led us to conclude that the labourmovement is at a difficult turning point; an observation that in and of itselfis hardly original. In 1990, the diagnosis of a “crisis of the labour movement”was a recurring theme. Today, however, a number of observers, both withinand outside trade unions, are speaking of a “second wind” and new types


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of action that can be attributed to the struggle against neoliberal globaliza-tion. This research article is meant to temper some of this enthusiasm. Thefundamental role of labour movements, which is to prevent competitionbetween the forces of labour at the individual or group level,84 is todayunder siege within national boundaries (i.e., lower levels of unionizationand insecurity in the workplace) and internationally, where the liberaliza-tion of economic exchange is exacerbating competition between workers. Theattempts of workers to defend employment locally and nationally are noteasily reconciled with the scattered and disparate state of international laboursolidarity.

We must also consider the profound consequences of the dissolution ofthe communist bloc. The working class in communist bloc countries wasoppressed, and a class of labour apparatchiks supported the powers of thestate. But the end of the Cold War, and the collapse of communism thatfollowed, were not always conducive to the birth of autonomous labourmovements.85 On the contrary, it has become easier for governments ofdeveloped nations and their accomplices, with the support of internationalorganizations focused on economics, to pursue a strategy that advocates theexclusion of labour movements.

Notes

The authors wish to thank the Université de Montréal for its financial support, and an anonymousreviewer for his/her useful comments. This article was translated from French by Tim Brierley.

1. For more information on the HSA, see T. Collombat, L’Alliance sociale continentale: étude etmise en perspective (MSc thesis, Department of Political Science, Université de Montréal,2003).

2. B. Carr, “La mondialisation par le bas: l’internationalisme ouvrier sous l’ALÉNA,” Revueinternationale des sciences sociales 51/159 (1999), pp. 58–68; D. Brunelle and C. Deblock,“Les mouvements d’opposition au libre-échange dans les Amériques et la constitution d’uneAlliance sociale continentale,” Nouvelles pratiques sociales 13/2 (2000), pp. 31–6.

3. C. Lévesque and G. Murray, “Le pouvoir syndical dans l’économie mondiale: clés de lecturepour un renouveau,” Revue de l’IRES 41 (2003), pp. 1–28; P. Avignon, Les innovations del’Accord Nord-Américain de Coopération dans le domaine du Travail (ANACT) (MSc thesis,Department of Political Science, Université de Montréal, 2003); and M. J. Gagnon, “Lesyndicalisme entre institutionnalité et mouvement social,” Possibles 24 (2002), pp. 216–231.

4. In contrast with the more lukewarm reactions from Quebec unions to the Canada–US FreeTrade Agreement (CUSFTA 1988) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA1993), which included Mexico. For more on this subject, see Brunelle and Deblock, Nouvellespratiques sociales.


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5. It should be noted that Canadian and North American unions whose locals are affiliated withthe QFL have often centralized their international activities, mostly in English-speakingCanada. This trend compounds the inherent decentralization of the QFL (cf. infra).

6. For an example of this approach, see P. Lavoie, Élargir nos solidarités. Penser globalement. Agirlocalement (Montreal: Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec, 2004).

7. Here we refer to its definition by R. Cox as “the comprehensive term for various ways inwhich people express collective wills independently of (and often in opposition to) estab-lished power, both economical and political.” R. Cox, “Civil Society at the Turn of theMillennium: Prospects for an Alternative World Order,” Review of International Studies 25(1999), p. 10.

8. Periods that favoured the signing of treaties and the establishment of intergovernmentalbodies.

9. The latter number is to be treated with caution, given the very different geographical contoursof union locals from one country to another.

10. Such as the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mines and General Workers’Unions (ICEM), founded in 1995, which, as of 2001, had 399 affiliated unions in 108countries representing a total of 20 million workers; and the Union Network International(UNI), founded in 2000, which has 800 affiliated unions (2003) in 140 countries repre-senting a total of 15 million workers. For more information on these organizations, visit thefollowing URLs: <www.icem.org> and <www.union-network.org>.

11. See the example of the International Transport Federation in J.-M. Pernot, “Mondialisons lasolidarité. Le congrès de la Fédération internationale des transports,” Chronique interna-tionale de l’IRES 80 (2003), pp. 30–42.

12. Here we refer, of course, to the so-called “Old Europe.” Trade unions in the communist blocwere not part of the ITS.

13. One might suppose that the protectionist and isolationist attitudes once common in UStrade unionism did not favour the establishment of regional offices in North America. Onthe other hand, US unions were highly involved in setting up the International Confederationof Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), which we look at later in this study.

14. T. Collombat, Rapport d’observation, 27e Congrès de l’Internationale des services publics (Ottawa,September 2002), unpublished.

15. Cf. note 12.16. Many North American unions (QFL-CTC) still preserve a commitment to “liberty” in their

constitutions — a reminiscence of Yalta and the Cold War.17. For more information visit the following URL: <www.icftu.org>.18. Being the older organization “maintained.”19. These numbers should be treated with caution since the available information is not clear.

The lavish budgets of the WFTU, which once gave financial support to state-controlledunions in satellite nations of the USSR, are a thing of the past. Since the WFTU claims toinclude its Chinese affiliates (state-controlled unions), the numbers rise quickly. For moreinformation, visit <http://wftu.cz>.

20. Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro.21. It is more accurate to characterize the WCL as Catholic than as Christian.22. In this case, after many debates (1992). The CUT militants in Brazil did not look at all

favourably upon the anti-communist past of the ICFTU. See Central Ùnica dos Trabalhadores,A Política Internacional da CUT, available online at <www.cut.org.br/polintercut.pdf> (accessed1 November 2004).

23. ORIT (Inter-American Regional Organization of Workers) preserves the acronym of itsFrench and Spanish titles: Organisation Régionale Inter-Américaine du Travail / OrganizaciónRegional Interamericana de Trabajadores.

24. P. Labarique, 1962–1979: l’AFL-CIO et la “contre-insurrection” syndicale, <www.reseau-voltaire.net/article14156.html> (accessed 1 November 2004).

25. The equivalent of the ORIT within the WCL is the Central latinoamericano de los traba-jadores (CLAT). The WCL has almost no members left in North America.


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26. In Canada, trade unions were the catalyst behind the founding of an association dedicatedto informing and organizing groups along these lines: the Shareholder Association for Researchand Education (SHARE). At the international level, the ICFTU, ITS, and Trade UnionAdvisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC-OECD) established the Committee forInternational Co-operation and Workers’ Capital. It includes representatives from Quebec,and meets once a year. Religious communities in Quebec have also formed an associationthat takes part in shareholder meetings.

27. The Organization of American States (OAS) is excluded from our “established heterogeneousforums” category because its members are only national governments and it does not consultwith trade unions. The OAS does focus, however, on human rights, and its conventions areused by trade unions in the Americas — but not by Canadian trade unions because Canadahas signed neither the Inter-American Human Rights Convention (the Pact of San Jose 1969)nor its additional protocol on economic, social, and cultural rights (the Protocol of San Salvador1988). Cf. R. Rosenberg and S. Stein, Advancing the Miami Process: Civil Society and theSummit of the Americas (Corral Gables, Florida: University of Miami North-South CenterPress, 2001), and J. P. Thérien, P. Hénault and M. Roberge, “Le régime interaméricain decitoyenneté. Acquis et défis,” Études internationales 33/3 (September 2002), pp. 421–446.

28. Tripartite, but lacking equal representation. In the decisionmaking bodies, governments holdtwo seats for every seat held by employers and workers respectively. The latter groups’ repre-sentatives are named by recognized national organizations of employers and unions. Also,since 2002, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) have the right to bepresent — but not to vote — at annual conferences, as long as they meet certain conditions.

29. International Labour Organization, À propos de nous, <www.ilo.org/public/french/about/index.htm> (accessed 1 November 2004).

30. B. De la Cruz and A. Euzébi, L’Organisation internationale du travail (Paris: Presses univer-sitaires de France, 1997).

31. Mexico, China, India, the United States, and even Brazil have still not ratified fundamentalILO conventions such as the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to OrganizeConvention, and the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention (ILO 2004). Ingeneral terms for North America, Mexico has endorsed 66 conventions, Canada 28, and theUnited States 10.

32. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), L’OCDE et la sociétécivile, <www.oecd.org/dataoecd/36/11/2367411.pdf> (accessed 1 November 2004).

33. Updated in 2000 and translated into 16 languages.34. With the result that union organizations located in countries that are not members of the

OECD may belong to the TUAC (Brazil’s Central Ùnica dos Trabalhadores, for example).35. The texts and the reality do not always meet, however. The text of the NAALC (1994) plans

for the implementation of national advisory committees to see that the agreement is respected.In Canada, a first meeting was held in November 2002 and included management and unionrepresentatives. (P. Avignon, Rapport d’entrevue avec le directeur du Bureau AdministratifNational (2003), unpublished.)

36. For example, Israel, Chile, various countries in Central America, etc.37. Ministerial meetings also occur at the American continental level.38. This is true in the case of international meetings on issues like social development and the

environment, or events related to United Nations theme years (e.g., International Women’sYear).

39. Certainly in a very large sense, if one considers the list of member-states and their respectiveshare of Francophones.

40. One could suggest that the relative (and recent) “political disqualification” of the UN bestowslegitimacy on meetings between heads of state at all levels.

41. Initially entitled the European Management Forum (1971), it has extended its reach to othercontinents and political leaders of the world; it received official recognition from the UN in1998. The WEF is basically a massive trade fair for investors.

42. With the result that international union leaders have scheduling problems: do they attend thecounterforum in Davos or the World Social Forum held elsewhere?


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43. M. J. Gagnon, Possibles, pp. 216–231.44. Note that the Hemispheric Social Alliance (HSA), like the Réseau québécois sur l’intégration

continentale (RQIC), does not include all the NGOs fighting against neoliberal globaliza-tion. In Quebec, for example, the Association pour une Taxation des Transactions financières pourl’Aide aux Citoyens (Attac-Québec) is not represented inside the RQIC.

45. The British Commonwealth of Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS) donot allow official representation by trade unions.

46. In North America, “international trade unions” signifies the US organizations that have hadbranches in Canada since the start of the twentieth century. In the meantime, many of thesebranches have acquired a great deal of autonomy from their US headquarters (the Steelworkers,for example), or they have simply divorced themselves to form a truly native union (such asCanadian Auto Workers). Nowhere else in the world do you find cases where a single unionorganization is present in two different nations.

47. The Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) holds a monopoly in the public school systemand a quasi-monopoly in the private school system. As in many other countries (e.g., France),unionism in Quebec education developed more or less independently. But it also has rootsin Catholic unionism: until quite recently, schools in the province were controlled by theChurch.

48. Hydro-Québec is the state-owned corporation responsible for producing, distributing, andtransporting Quebec electricity.

49. But this practice is not a prerogative of unions in the QFL because the Fédération nationaledes communications of the CSN was itself a long-time opponent of membership by theCommunications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) in the InternationalFederation of Journalists (IFJ).

50. The Spanish (or French) acronym is used in most language contexts, as mentioned above; sotoo is the Spanish slogan Pan, Paz, Libertad — “Bread, Peace, Freedom.”

51. The Centre international de solidarité ouvrière (CISO) also manages training projects andinformation exchanges with organizations in the southern hemisphere.

52. The QFL believes that, with help from its Solidarity Fund, it managed to persuade theHudson’s Bay Company to improve conditions in the factories of its suppliers in developingnations. A campaign against Wal-Mart is also in the works (M. J. Gagnon, Rapport d’entrevueavec Michel Lizée (2003), unpublished, and P. Lavoie, Élargir nos solidarités. Penser globale-ment. Agir localement).

53. In this case, only national forums that address international questions.54. The unions of the AFL-CIO even made adherence to this agreement a condition of their

support for Bill Clinton’s candidacy in the presidential elections.55. P. Avignon, Les innovations de l’Accord Nord-Américain de Coopération dans le domaine du

Travail (ANACT).56. The case in question was the “Consulta,” a popular referendum launched by member organi-

zations of the Hemispheric Social Alliance (HSA) intended as a direct public consultationregarding the FTAA. The QFL judged that this project would put too much emphasis ondisputes and not enough on constructive proposals. It therefore withdrew, leaving the CSNand the CSQ to continue their participation.

57. This can influence the perceptions of participants and observers alike. The ILO’s peacefulconferences in Geneva get little attention from the media when compared with demonstra-tions in Seattle, Genoa, and Quebec City or the image-friendly World Social Forums.

58. M. J. Gagnon, “Le syndicalisme: du monde d’appréhension à l’objet sociologique,” Sociologieet sociétés 23 (1991), pp. 129–150.

59. To use the apt expression applied by Daniel Céfaï to NGOs. See D. Céfaï. and D. Tom,(eds.), Les formes de l’action collective. Mobilisations dans des arènes publiques (Paris: Éditionsde l’Éhess, 2001).

60. The CSN is more centralized (due to its Catholic origins) and its sectoral units (or federa-tions) are therefore more consistent with each other.


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61. The “services” and the contribution rate are the two principal topics of union organizingcampaigns.

62. Accusations of “conference-hopping” can be very damaging to the reputations of unionleaders.

63. There are also areas where the economy suffers from chronic underdevelopment.64. The Peronist regimes in Argentina, for example.65. The same might be said of trade unions in Africa.66. According to some observers of international labour organizations, the Cold War and the

machinations of the two confederations had an especially harmful effect on Latin Americanunionism. For more on this subject, see M. J. Gagnon, Rapport d’entrevue avec le secrétairegénéral du TUAC-OCDE (2003), unpublished.

67. Brazil is a special case because its labour organizations are thought to be the strongest in LatinAmerica.

68. Elected union leaders need permission from the employer before they enter the grounds ofa factory or workplace.

69. J. E. Laguercia, Pluralidade sindical. Da legalidade à legitimidade no sistema sindical brasileiro(Sao Paulo: LTR, 2000); F. A. Benites, “Intervencionismo estata e modelo sindical,” Revistacritica Juridica 19 (2001), pp.179–224; S. M. Cardoso, “A filiaçao sindical no Brasil,” Dados44/1 (2001), pp. 15–52; and A. Araujo, A construção do consentimento. Corporatismo e trabal-hadores nos anos trinta (Sao Paulo: Scritta, 1998).

70. The CUT and the Workers’ Party (PT or Partido dos Trabalhadores) are the results of directrelations between political militants and trade unions. The union assemblies resemble theconventions of political parties (for example, the right to speak is granted to certain “camps”).

71. We might also note the “aggravating” factor (encountered during our research) of a clear lackof mutual understanding between northern and southern union officials. This situation isall the more surprising when one considers how many exchanges and meetings have taken placebetween unionists from Quebec and Brazil.

72. K. Moody, Workers in a Lean World: Unions in the International Economy (London: Verso,1997).

73. É. Neveu, Sociologie des mouvements sociaux (Paris: La Découverte, 2002); and S. Tarrow,Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics (Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1994).

74. D. McAdam, S. Tarrow, and C. Tilly, The Dynamics of Contention (New York and London:Cambridge University Press, 2001).

75. This is more the case in the Americas than in Europe.76. The ebb and flow of this sequencing casts doubt on Touraine’s analyses that trade unionism

is on a one-way trip towards institutionalization. See A. Touraine, La voix et le regard (Paris:Seuil, 1978); A. Touraine, M. Wieviorka, and F. Dubet, Le mouvement ouvrier (Paris: Fayard,1984); and M. J. Gagnon, Sociologie et sociétés, pp. 129–150.

77. R. Hyman and A. Ferner, New Frontiers in European Industrial Relations (Oxford: Blackwell,1994).

78. As when the QFL urged its affiliates to insist that employers supply “proper” work clothesi.e., clothing that had not been made in sweatshops. In this case, the QFL benefitted fromthe work of NGOs and INGOs already active in the anti-sweatshop movement.

79. Cf. <www.oas.org>.80. A paradox. The NGOs and INGOs carry names that distinguish them from governments,

but many of them depend on funding from governments or international organizationsfinanced by governments. See D. Gallin, “Trade Unions and NGOs. A Necessary Partnershipfor Social Development,” Associations transnationales 1 (2001), pp. 17–36; J. A. Scholte,“Civil Society and Democracy in Global Governance,” Global Governance 8 (2002), pp.281–304; M. Hardt, “Porto Allegre: Today’s Bandung?” in New Left Review 14 (2002), pp.5–25; and S. Brunel, D. Durant, and S. Rifrac, “Les limites du rôle des ONG,” Recherchesinternationales 58/4 (1999), pp. 144–156.


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81. International trade unions, much like INGOs, constitute a large family. In Paris, Geneva,Brussels, or Davos, the same groups are found. They are the salaried or elected members ofthe organizations, especially the European ones.

82. M. Angus, L’économie mondiale: Statistiques historiques (Paris: Centre de développement del’Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, 2001), and W. Martin, “Whythis Hatred of Market ?” in The Globalization Reader, Frank J. Lechner and J. Boli, (ed.),(Malden: Blackwell Publishers, 2000), p. 9.

83. G. Bourque, J. Duchastel, and E. Pineault, “L’incorporation de la citoyenneté,” Sociologie etsociétés 31/2 (1999), pp. 41–64.

84. Offe and H. Wiesenthal, “Two Logics of Collective Action: Theorical Notes on Social Classand Organizational Form,” Political Power and Social Theory 1 (1961), pp. 67–116.

85. D. Mandel, Labour After Communism (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 2004).


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