Thus,
the debates surrounding the construction of a ‘global
system’
generate questions about the extent to which GUFs are
major
players within it, the effectiveness of IFAs and internal
relations
within the international trade union movement. Kazakh-
stan
is a suitable context for examining them precisely because it
raises
the question of whether GUF influence may have significant
limits
in certain places, due to the specific nature of trade unionism
there.
Recent literature documents international union efforts to
improve
organising and bargaining capacities. Yet, in global terms,
the
‘varieties of unionism’ (Frege & Kelly, 2005) are not limited to
those
of Europe and the Anglo-Saxon world, nor to those with