IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/nglost/v16y2022i1p7-30n2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Supply Chain Organizing as a Worker-led Strategy for Trade: A Case Study of Unite the Union

Author

Listed:
  • Waterman Andrew

    (University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK)

  • Norman Ben

    (Unite the Union, London, UK)

Abstract

Global trade is often understood by trade union officials to be an abstract policy-level issue without a direct role for workers or shop floor influence. As the UK establishes an independent trade policy in the wake of Brexit, this article explores the concept of strategic supply chain organizing as the basis for a shop steward-led strategy to counter the industrial impact of trade. Based on interviews with Unite shop stewards and work with the union’s Research Department, this article explores efforts within Unite the Union, the largest private and public sector trade union in the UK and Ireland, to advance such a strategy through the union’s activist shop stewards and democratic structures. While considering the limitations of existing union approaches to trade issues as well as the challenges of developing such a strategy within the context of a large multisector trade union, the article puts forward a methodology of applied industrial research rooted in the principles of workers’ inquiry and supply chain solidarity. Taken together, the article considers the potential for new collaboration between the union’s shop stewards within supply chains to more fully realize their latent collective industrial power.

Suggested Citation

  • Waterman Andrew & Norman Ben, 2022. "Supply Chain Organizing as a Worker-led Strategy for Trade: A Case Study of Unite the Union," New Global Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 7-30, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:nglost:v:16:y:2022:i:1:p:7-30:n:2
    DOI: 10.1515/ngs-2022-0009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/ngs-2022-0009
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/ngs-2022-0009?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:nglost:v:16:y:2022:i:1:p:7-30:n:2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.