The Internationalization of Industrial Relations*

Multinational corporations, by definition, have a multinational work force. However, the trade union institutions which represent the employees of the various subsidiaries have been organized historically on a country basis with little international interaction on industrial relations matters with a specific international employer.11It must be mentioned here that many United States unions are established on a bi-national basis in that they include a sizable Canadian membership. However, elsewhere the principle of organization is the particular nation-state. Union organization and representation activities have remained largely on the polycentric level even where their corporate adversaries operate in an ethnocentric or geocentric fashion. Recently though, international, regional, and national trade union organizations, particularly in the United States and Europe, have become concerned about the problems created by the multinational corporations because of their international nature. To confront these difficulties and to counteract the perceived advantages enjoyed by international firms, the trade union movement is developing a number of different strategies some of which may lead to the internationalization of industrial relations.22For a discussion of a case of international collective bargaining see David H. Blake, "Multinational Corporation, International Union, and Economic Implications of the 1967 UAW—Chrysler Agreement," in Transnational Industrial Relations, ed. by Hans Gunter (London: Macmillan, 1972). To phrase it in another way, in response to the challenge of the multinational corporation in union-management relations, unions are attempting to internationalize their activities and strength.© 1972 JIBS. Journal of International Business Studies (1972) 3, 17–32