Catha Worthman

Owen Herrnstadt, Director of International Affairs for the 720,000 member Machinists Union, recently spoke to a graduate seminar on Labor and Globalization hosted at the Center for Latin American Studies. When he thinks of the global economy, Herrnstadt said, he remembers a trip he took to Vietnam to investigate labor rights abuses. In Hanoi, he saw two young children trying to sleep in a window-sill on the outside of a building at the edge of a busy traffic circle. Skinny and barely clothed, they were just five minutes away from the new Hanoi Hilton, with its in-laid mahogany, multiple restaurants, bars, and swimming pools. "The children and the Hotel's business customers might seem separate," Herrnstadt reflected, "but they are connected. The businessmen are engaged in a race to the top, and the children are experiencing the race to the bottom that the businessmen take advantage of."

To develop their strategies to confront the global economy, the Machinists must understand how the situations they face are also connected to those of the children and businessmen in Vietnam. Globalization has caused devastating consequences for the Machinists as it has for other workers in the United States. Herrnstadt estimates that 443,000 U.S. jobs have been lost since the implementation of NAFTA, though precise quantification is difficult. These numbers do not account for the jobs lost through the process known as "lean manufacturing," in which manufacturers contract out everything but their core jobs and subcontract work at lower labor costs, both within the U.S. and abroad. As for the promise that increased exports would cause more jobs, Herrnstadt questions the quality of those jobs, and notes that any numerical gains have been far outweighed by the losses. Herrnstadt emphasized that "the number one issue facing our members today is job security."

While they examine these difficult issues, the Machinists are also taking action. "I am proud," Herrnstadt said, "that 10,000 machinists marched in the peaceful demonstrations at Seattle outside the WTO last August." Importantly, the Machinists have been organizing actively within the United States to rebuild their membership losses, with an 80% win rate since 1990. Other strategies the Machinists are implementing include developing international labor solidarity, cross-border organization, and even international collective bargaining.

As a leader within the Union who works every day to construct these relationships of international solidarity, Herrnstadt offered a refreshingly practical assessment of the difficulties involved. Labor laws, systems of labor-management relationships, and internal union structures vary from country to country. Aside from sometimes conflicting ideologies or immediate needs, unions must find ways to communicate quickly and regularly. Herrnstadt said he would like to trace all the Machinists' work which has moved to Mexico, for example, in order to develop relations with workers there. But getting such information would require massive resources.

Despite these difficulties, the Machinists have pioneered efforts at coordinating international labor activity. For example, they participate actively in the International Metalworkers Federation (an international trade secretariat), and filed joint complaints with Mexican unions through the mechanisms established under the NAFTA labor side agreement. Although the complaint mechanism has failed completely as a method for developing enforceable sanctions, Herrnstadt said, it has facilitated some cross-border cooperation.

Throughout, Herrnstadt emphasized that the Machinists Union membership was actively involved in setting policies and establishing strategic directions for the union. New methods of communication like the worldwide web have facilitated direct member input into global trade strategy. One challenge is how to harness this communication to collaborate with other unions internationally. Another challenge is the attitudes of multi-national corporate executives. Herrnstadt summarized a comment by Jack Welsh, former C.E.O. of General Electric, with whom the Machinists have one of their most important union contracts. Welch has said "the ideal factory would be built on a barge" so it could be hauled around the world to low-wage areas, where it could operate without labor rules, environmental protections or other standards.