While it's easy to blame globalization for shrinking job opportunities, dangerous declines in labor standards, and a host of related discontents, the "flattening" of the world has also created unprecedented opportunities for worker organization. By expanding employment in developing countries, especially for women, globalization has formed a basis for stronger workers' rights, even in remote sites of production. Using India's labor movement as a model, Rohini Hensman charts the successes and failures, strengths and weaknesses, of the struggle for workers' rights and organization in a rich and varied nation. As Indian products gain wider acceptance in global markets, the disparities in employment conditions and union rights between such regions as the European Union and India's vast informal sector are exposed, raising the issue of globalization's implications for labor. Hensman's study examines the unique pattern of "employees' unionism," which emerged in Bombay in the 1950s, before considering union responses to recent developments, especially the drive to form a national federation of independent unions. A key issue is how far unions can resist protectionist impulses and press for stronger global standards, along with the mechanisms to enforce them. After thoroughly unpacking this example, Hensman zooms out to trace the parameters of a global labor agenda, calling for a revival of trade unionism, the elimination of informal labor, and reductions in military spending to favor funding for comprehensive welfare and social security systems.

Workers, Unions, and Global Capitalism addresses what are unquestionably important topics, with appropriately nuanced arguments. Rohini Hensman is careful to avoid the kind of blanket condemnation of globalization that appears in so much critical literature, and part of her originality is showing very clearly that the problems of the labor movement in India are not the result of globalization, but have a much longer history. -- John Harriss, Simon Fraser University The analysis is clear: falling labor standards are not the outcome of globalization but the result of the neoliberal mode of growth that has come to dominate the world economy. In Rohini Hensman's fascinating study, the message is equally straightforward: workers of the world, join the struggle to resist exclusion and insist on inclusion. -- Jan Breman, professor emeritus, University of Amsterdam Workers, Unions, and Global Capitalism provides a much-needed look at India's working class and its organizations. The book argues for the importance of union democracy and international solidarity as a means to workers' power in today's changing world economy. Rohini Hensman places this in the context of an analysis that sees globalization as a new phase in the development of capitalism. Her work promises to move the debate over globalization and its impact on workers beyond the limits of 'pro' and 'con.' -- Kim Moody, Work and Employment Research Unit, University of Hertfordshire Rohini Hensman's wide-ranging and provocative argument should be read by all those seeking to understand the lived experience of workers in a globalizing world and the most prominent and promising responses by way of ideas and actions. -- Sanjay Reddy, New School for Social Research, author of International Trade and Labor Standards: A Proposal for Linkage

About the Author
Rohini Hensman is a writer and independent scholar based in Bombay. She has published extensively on issues of worker's rights, women's rights, and the rights of minorities and is the coauthor of Beyond Multinationalism: Management Policy and Bargaining Relationships in International Companies.

Reviews
Overall, the author makes a comprehensive and persuasive case for global labor reform. CHOICE A well-researched book on the subject of global capitalism and workers' rights... BizIndia



Book Information
ISBN 9780231148009
Author Rohini Hensman
Format Hardback
Page Count 440
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press