The New Dynamic of German-American Union Interaction in the Evolving Transatlantic Civil Society
By Thomas Greven

Despite the widespread rhetoric of internationalism, international relations between unions have often been characterized by competition and distrust, in part based on the institutionalization of unions at the level of the nation-state. The globalization of the economy has exacerbated this situation, and unions not only remain vested in the institutions of the nation-state, they are largely stuck in a conceptual prison defined by these institutions. In recent years, however, the continued decline of unions has caused unions to initiate internal reforms. As part of these reform processes, a new dynamic of international union relations can be observed.

Positioning Labor in the Globalization Debates
Labor only features prominently in one of the three major political science debates on globalization. And even in this political economy debate on the changing international division of labor, what is mostly addressed is the decline of organized labor as a consequence of the increased mobility of capital. In contrast, there has been considerable enthusiasm regarding the possibilities of global governance and an evolving/emergent global civil society. NGOs in particular are thought to be able to counter-balance the relative loss of governing capabilities of nation-states (and unions).

The marginalization of labor and unions, however, is undeserved in theoretical as well as empirical terms. Not only are unions part of the most established example of "self-regulating mechanisms" (at the national level), moreover, as democratically accountable workplace-related organizations they are the representatives of those affected by economic globalization, and thus uniquely legitimized to address the governance of the global economy. The fact that unions pursue material interests cannot exclude them from the discussion of the creation of public goods.

German-American Union Interaction
In fact, the reason for the lack of discussion of unions in the globalization debates has more to do with their apparent difficulties to effectively act on behalf of working people. Unions have yet to overcome the myriad of obstacles regarding effective cross-border cooperation, namely competition, differences in organizational cultures and institutions, all exacerbated by language and legal barriers. These obstacles are apparent in the example of German-American post-WWII labor interaction.

Many activists in the U.S. labor movement were German immigrants and helped to shape U.S. labor relations. Conversely, American union representatives were instrumental in devising the German post-WW II industrial relations system. International union cooperation, however, quickly became the prerogative of labor union officials. International federations such as the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions were politically preoccupied with anticommunism, and in economic terms, unions were almost exclusively focused on the rebuilding of national markets and welfare states.

Embedded in national economic and social institutions, unions have been ill-prepared to respond to the growing challenge of international business. When German car exports to the U.S. seriously threatened their American competition, the unions acquiesced because of the foreign policy considerations involved in the unilateral opening of the U.S. market to cold war allies. Later, the labor movement resorted to protectionism in the face of Japanese competition -- a national rather than international policy solution. German unions, on the other hand, established works councils and supervisory boards in the many affiliates of U.S. companies in Germany, but never before the takeover of Chrysler by Daimler did a German union offer a seat on the board to an American unionist. In the context of sharply increased competition, workforce and wage cuts, and growing capital mobility, union representatives of globally active companies are under pressure to side with the company. Competitiveness alliances with management trump international solidarity.

The New Dynamic of Labor Transnationalism
With few exceptions, labor movement cooperation at the level of international federations has proved insufficient to generate viable policy innovations, political consensus, or mobilization capacity regarding the challenge of globalization. This includes, for the most part, the official Transatlantic Labor Dialogue, which was started in 1995 as part of the so called New Transatlantic Agenda of the U.S. and the EU.

Yet, at least two recent developments in transatlantic labor relations may allow an escape from the conceptual prison of the nation-state. First, there is a marked transnationalization of the U.S. labor movement strategy. In contrast to the European unions' transnational activities, which take the form of cooperative endeavors such as European and World Works Councils as well as International Framework Agreements with corporations, U.S. unions engage in leverage-seeking transnational campaigns. That is, strategic researchers attempt to identify vulnerabilities in the many relationships a target company has with its environment, and campaigners then exploit these with contentious and escalating action. As is so often the case with "things American," these strategic campaigns cause both irritation and fascination. The aggressive nature of the campaigns, which include unions introducing proposals at target company shareholder meetings, contrasts sharply with the more cooperative practices of most European unions. At the same time, the effectiveness of the campaigns impresses unionists who have been leading mostly defensive battles.

The second development in transatlantic labor relations has to do with this fascination with strategic campaigns and other strategic innovations of U.S. unions. Membership as well as political and bargaining power of unions in Europe has been declining sharply and this decline has spurred considerable reform efforts. As part of these efforts, there is increased interest in the experience and innovative capacity of U.S. unions, which have had to deal with decline for a long time. Cross-border learning has led to closer relationships between unions, especially in the service sector, where direct competition is as of yet uncommon.

Learning From the U.S.: Case Studies
At first, cross-border learning was the exclusive realm of individual "cultural translators" such as Uli Wohland, who was hired by the union hbv to direct a strategic campaign against the German drugstore chain Schlecker in the mid-1990s, learning from community organizing strategies of Saul Alinsky and from those U.S. union campaigners who were inspired by him. Today, the large service sector union ver.di is conducting a large scale campaign against the "small box" discounter Lidl. Once again, this campaign is in large part based upon the individual effort of a staff member who - on her own initiative - interned with several U.S. unions and then worked hard to introduce campaign methodology in her union.

In ver.di's organizing project in the security industry in Hamburg, the interests of German unions in learning from the U.S. and the U.S. unions' interest in avoiding the irritation that was caused by the many "one-way-solidarity" campaigns, coincide. For the first time, a German union explicitly trains "organizers" who are supposed to actively increase and mobilize the membership - something traditionally left to the works councils and the socialization at the workplace - and the training is done by seasoned American organizers, who are used to extremely difficult legal and political environments.

Conclusion: Unions in the Transatlantic Civil Society
Where the new dynamic of U.S.-German labor interaction will lead remains to be seen. Most unions are not yet taking part in the ongoing cross-border learning processes. However, the continuing decline will put reform pressure on all unions and if the new dynamic produces success -- or at least appears to stem the decline -- more unions will join the process. In the emerging transatlantic civil society, unions are to be reckoned with.

Thomas Greven is Assistant Professor of political science at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, and is a former DAAD/AICGS Fellow.  This paper is the result of his fellowship stay at AICGS.

This essay appeared in the November 21, 2006, AICGS Advisor.