Full Description
This is a collection of essays by an array of contributors from the Global Labour Column, which highlights and examines class struggle as the core of resistance against capitalism today.
It provides insights into the dynamics of neoliberalism and its persistence and stimulates debates about the continued impact of the economic crisis, focusing on labour as both a victim and a crucial social force which can push for an alternative.
Examples of the subjects it covers include the Indonesian Sportswear Industry, Chinese construction companies in Africa, mining in South Africa, job quality in Europe, globalised 'T-shirt economics' and the marketisation and securitisation of UK international aid, amongst many others.
The Global Labour Column, managed by the Corporate Strategy and Industrial Development research programme at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, is part of the Global Labour University.
Contents
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction by Nicolas Pons-Vignon and Mbuso Nkosi
Part I: Understanding the Crisis
1. Planet Earth Is Wage-led! - Özlem Onaran
2. From Financial Crisis to Stagnation: The Destruction of Shared Prosperity and the Role of Economics - Thomas I. Palley
3. State Funding of Research and the Narrowing of Economics in the U.K. - Fred Lee
4. Globalisation and Taxation: Trends and Consequences - Ilan Strauss
5. T-shirt Economics: Labour in the Imperialist World Economy - Tony Norfield
Part II: Europe in Turmoil
6. Greece in the Deadlock of the Troika's Austerity Trap - Giorgios Argitis
7. The ECB's Misleading Understanding of the Euro Crisis - Carlo D'Ippoliti
8. Europe's Lost Decade: Paths out of Stagnation - Hansjörg Herr
9. The Crisis, Structural Reform and the Fortification of Neoliberalism in Europe - Christoph Hermann
10. The Economic Crisis and Job Quality in Europe: Some Worrying Trends and Worse May Be to Come - Janine Leschke and Andrew Watt
Part III: Exploring Alternatives
11. Tackling Unemployment and Growing Public Debt - Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury
12. Tax for Equity (T4E): Getting Wages Back on Track - Frank Hoffer
13. The State as the Employer of Last Resort - Cédric Durand and Dany Lang
14. 'We are Steaming Ahead': NUMSA's Road to the Left - Interview with Karl Cloete
15. Alternatives to Neoliberalism: Towards a New Progressive Consensus - João Antônio Felício
Part IV: Resisting Exploitation and Neoliberalism
16. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Outcome? - Carol Jess
17. Right to Work and Michigan Labour - Roland Zullo
18. A Site of Struggle: Organised Labour and Domestic Worker Organising in Mozambique - Ruth Castel-Branco
19. Constructing an Anti-Neoliberal Analysis to Arrive at Truly Alternative Alternatives - Salimah Valiani
20. The 2012 Strike Wave, Marikana and the History of Rock Drillers in South African Mines - Paul Stewart
Part V: Good Samaritans? Institutional Responses to Labour Right Abuses
21. Where is Decent Work in DfID Policy? Marketisation and Securitisation of U.K. International Aid - Phoebe V. Moore
22. The National Pact to Eradicate Slave Labour in Brazil: A Useful Tool for Unions? - Lisa Carstensen and Siobhán McGrath
23. Better Work or 'Ethical Fix'? Lessons from Cambodia's Apparel Industry - Dennis Arnold
24. Putting Workers' Agency at the Centre in the Indonesian Sportswear Industry - Karin A. Siegmann, Jeroen Merk and Peter Knorringa
25. Rana Plaza: Private Governance and Corporate Power in Global Supply Chains - Tandiwe Gross
Part VI: 'Workers of the World, Unite': Challenges and Opportunities of Transnational Solidarity
26. Rank and File Participation and International Union Democracy - Vasco Pedrina
27. Trade Unions, Free Trade and the Problem of Transnational Solidarity - Andreas Bieler
28. Modelling a Global Union Strategy: The Arena of Global Production Networks, Global Framework Agreements and Trade Union Networks - Michael Fichter
29. Trade Unions, Globalisation and Internationalism - Ronaldo Munck
30. Chinese Construction Companies in Africa: A Challenge for Trade Unions - Eddie Cottle
Notes on Contributors
Index
