US Steelworkers, Big UK Union Plan to Merge
According to the Wall Street Journal:
The United Steelworkers said it is close to completing a merger with Unite, the United Kingdom's biggest union, creating the first trans-Atlantic union in a move aiming to bolster labor clout globally.
Unlike loosely affiliated international union federations, the new organization is expected to function like a single union, using its combined three million members in the U.S., Canada, England and Ireland to coordinate organizing and bargaining with multinational employers.
There is the question of the extent to which union members in one country will back the use of their resources in another country. Union officials say members will support each other because they believe their own working conditions and compensation are at stake.
"Now we've got globalization running rampant over workers all over the world, and there's not a counterforce in the labor movement. We want this to be something that can deliver for workers," said Leo Gerard, president of the Steelworkers, which currently represents 850,000 workers in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean in steel, aluminum, paper, tire and rubber, and health care, among other industries...click to continue.
