Unionists and labour activists often speak about workers' education, but what does the concept really imply and does it actually play a role for political consciousness? This paper is the synthesis of empirical studies from a Global Labour University (GLU) alumni research group on Workers'...

This working paper is a combination of two reports. The first section is a report by Serrano and Xhafa and it complements the study on the second phase of the Closing the representation gap (Webster et al, 2008). The purpose of this report is to identify critical factors and variables that may...

Given their global dimension and centrality to late modern capitalist development mega sports events like the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup can provide space for public discussion about the impact of globalisation and the opportunity for union revitalisation. This paper examines the activities...

This paper will provide insight to recent developments in Chinese labor markets and the current role of trade unions. The Chinese labor market has changed dramatically within the past few decades, moving from a centrally planned economy to a more market oriented one. The marketization of the...

In China, the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is the sole legal trade union organisation. It was established in 1925 and over the years and decades has gone through many changes. After 1949 it was restructured according to the needs of a socialist command economy and became the...

Market driven wage dispersion is a critical feature of income inequality. In this paper especially the Keynesian perspective on how to explain the global trends of rising wage dispersion is elaborated. Special attention is given to the policy implications derived from the analysis. Keynesian...

Labour market developments in Germany can be separated into two major shocks: German reunification in the early 1990s, and the Hartz reforms in the early 2000s. In this paper it is argued that these two shocks divide the German wage bargaining system into the old labour market system, which is...

This paper analyses the development strategies followed by the governments of Argentina and Brazil since the election of left-oriented parties (2002 in Brazil and 2003 in Argentina), and focuses on the role the trade union movement has had on their policies and how it challenged their growth...