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Hirsch, Jeffrey M. --- "Employee Collective Action in a Global Economy" [2009] ELECD 423; in Dau-Schmidt, G. Kenneth; Harris, D. Seth; Lobel, Orly (eds), "Labor and Employment Law and Economics" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009)

Book Title: Labor and Employment Law and Economics

Editor(s): Dau-Schmidt, G. Kenneth; Harris, D. Seth; Lobel, Orly

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847207296

Section: Chapter 21

Section Title: Employee Collective Action in a Global Economy

Author(s): Hirsch, Jeffrey M.

Number of pages: 24

Extract:

21 Employee collective action in a global
economy
Jeffrey M. Hirsch


1 Introduction
The world economy is truly an international one. Technological advances
in transportation and communications have eliminated many of the geo-
graphic barriers to trade and systems of production. The more established
economies of Europe and the United States are now routinely linked with
emerging economies of regions such as Asia, Central and South America,
and Africa. As European and Asian economies in particular have rapidly
expanded in recent years, the market for a wide variety of products, and
some services, has become increasingly global in scale.
Accompanying this change in product markets has been the globali-
zation of labor markets. Because companies can easily transport their
products to buyers around the world, the geographic limitations on where
those products are produced have decreased. Technology, particularly
information technology, has furthered this trend. Increased informational
capabilities allow employers to use a wide array of subcontractors, even in
different countries (Dau-Schmidt 2007). The increased use of subcontrac-
tors, however, raises new concerns for workers.
A significant factor in a company's decision where to locate production
facilities is labor costs. The result is that many workers throughout the
world must compete not locally or nationally, but internationally. Indeed,
the growing roles of highly populous countries like India and China in the
global labor market are but the most significant examples of this increase
in the global supply of labor (Dau-Schmidt 2007).
This expansion of the labor market impacts ...