Each issue of the Journal features a Forum section that brings together academics, policymakers, and other professionals to analyze a single issue in depth. By examining the topic from a unique perspective, each Forum contributor incorporates his or her personal experiences and knowledge to offer Journal readers a complete perspective on the issue at hand. Previous Forums have examined the issue of transnational crime, space-based weapons, and the intersection of religion and politics.

Since the end of communism and the rise of globalization, labor movements have faced formidable challenges to their viability as a political voice for workers. Organized labor the world over has largely stagnated or been silenced in the face of state and international pressures. This Forum examines the state of workers and their politics and parties in four regions today to assess the challenges facing them and the effects felt in their country's polices at home and abroad.

Issue 8.1

One Sun in the Sky: Labor Unions in the People’s Republic of China By Jehangir S. Pocha - Full Text

There is an old Chinese proverb that holds there cannot be two suns in the sky, so there can be only one source of power in the land. It is an idea the Chinese Communist Party has embraced fully, leaving it congenitally opposed to any leadership or organization in China other than itself. It is hardly surprising then that the Chinese government is not ready to allow independent trade unions to exist because of their potential for creating political instability. Labor rights remain the last frontier of change in China, and the Communist Party’s growing resistance to labor reform indicates that conditions for Chinese workers are likely to become worse before they get any better. This is a grim prediction for a country where independent trade unions are already banned and millions of workers go to bed every night in overcrowded dormitory rooms... (more)

Stuck on the Streets: French Labor By Timothy B. Smith

Since the early 1980s, labor leaders in North America and France alike have held up Western European nations as humane, worker-friendly, civilized places. In particular they have presented France as a country that makes time for the finer things in life, a place that treats workers with respect and provides decent wages, iron-clad job security, and long holidays—a cradle-to-grave welfare state. This view is no longer tenable. As fires raged in suburban housing complexes across France in November 2005, the world watched in disbelief. The nation that gave birth to the ideal of solidarity was revealed to be racially segregated and rife with discrimination—officially opposed to the ideal of multiculturalism, but incapable of living up to its preferred goal of assimilating newcomers. Racked by chronic, long-term unemployment, the French electorate suffers further from disillusionment and polarization […]

Venezuelan Labor Struggles to Find Autonomy By Ambassador Charles S. Shapiro

The Venezuelan organized labor movement, encompassing an estimated 1.8 million workers, struggles under the rule of President Hugo Chávez to achieve independence. The historically privileged minority of petroleum sector workers has been a drag on developing a robust labor movement broadly across society. Despite President Chávez’s rhetoric in favor of the poor, he has pummeled Venezuela’s labor sector into ineffectiveness by promoting the creation of parallel unions loyal to the government to undercut their traditional counterparts; by creating work cooperatives, whose workers do not enjoy the full range of labor rights; by asserting government oversight of internal union elections as a means of stifling union growth; and by unilaterally granting pay and pension increases while refusing to negotiate with union representatives. The opposition-led Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV) greatly eroded its own standing through its direct involvement in the political crises of 2002 to 2003, particularly the two-month national strike which paralyzed formal business activity and galvanized Chávez’s support. Chavez used the pretext to fire 19,000 Petroleum of Venezuela (PDVSA) workers and assume direct control of the largest petroleum company in Latin America.  The Venezuelan labor movement is now split between the ailing CTV and the pro-Chávez National Workers Union (UNT), which itself is splintered into factions. This dichotomy is not, however, a fight between Chavez supporters and the opposition, as elements of both sides favor a labor movement free of government manipulation. […]

From Eastern Bloc to EU: Organized Labor’s Struggle for Relevance By Tamas Reti

Genuine democratic labor unions were established in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) after 1988, but their chances to effectively influence social transformation remained weak. Transition to a market economy has been a long process rife with crisis and social unrest and is best understood in three stages prior to accession to the European Union (EU). At the start of this transition, labor unions had strong political rather than social credentials and had difficulty adjusting this image. Meanwhile, political parties and governments often made populist social promises to garner public support. Throughout the 1990s, the relationship between government and labor often resulted in institutional weakness and confusion that has prevented organized labor from gaining a strong foothold in any of the CEE countries. Accession to the European Union and entry in the eurozone demands the convergence of economic-monetary policy, but it is not a driving force in expanding European social values.  Vast reforms are necessary, but unions do not have the strength to call for them. Thus, even with real wages rising, labor productivity increasing, and labor conditions improving, it remains an open question who, if anyone, can stop the degradation of social rights in Central and Eastern Europe.

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