Labor unions abroad

Labor unions are most definitely not limited to the United States, the in fact exist in virtually all developed countries. In most of Europe they are much stronger than they are here. However there are still many counties where unions are not allowed and with more and more jobs being transferred to these countries this is likely to become an issue in the future.

When it comes to labor unions abroad there are huge differences depending on where you are. In most of Europe the unions are generally quite a bit stronger than they are in the United States and there are far more union members. This is of course not universally true as there are some countries were membership in unions is strictly limited. Nevertheless in most of these countries the unions offer their members much better protection than they could get in the United States. They also tend to have much more political power because the multiparty system allows the unions to actually run members for public office.

One of the interesting things about unions in Europe is that they often include groups that would not normally be protected in the US. They are not usually called unions but there are professional organizations that perform a similar function for white collar workers. This has helped to keep the unions in a strong position even though many of the jobs that are normally protected by unions are moving to other countries particularly those in Asia.

One of the real issues that unions are facing is that the jobs that they normally protected were unskilled ones, often in the manufacturing sector. Most of these jobs have been shipped overseas which makes it harder and harder for the unions to remain relevant in a lot of western nations. This is especially true in the countries where white collar workers do not generally form unions or professional associations. One of the reasons that these jobs are being sent overseas of course is that many of these countries have no unions. In many developing nations unions are illegal; this is because the governments want to attract manufacturers in order to help the economy to grow.

Just how long unions remain illegal in these countries remains to be seen. The UN considers making union membership illegal to be a human rights violation. In theory that means that the developed nations should be putting pressure on these countries to allow unions to exist. In practice few developed nations have a real interest in doing this since they do benefit from the cheap products that they import from these countries. The more likely scenario is that unions in this part of the world will follow a similar pattern to that which was followed in the United States. As the increase in manufacturing makes these countries wealthier the workers will start to form unions on their own to demand better wages and conditions.