How
GUFs can assist local unions to organise within TNCs and
bargain
effectively with them has also been discussed. Some
researchers
have stressed the significance of internal GUF and
union
relations in determining IFAs’ effectiveness (Dehnen, 2013).
Power
relations between unions operating in the global heartlands
of
trade unionism, especially in Europe, and the relatively
resource-poor
GUFs, can assume major significance. European
trade
unions, when operating in conjunction with others in
European
Works Councils, have occasionally sought to extend their
influence
both with TNCs and the GUFs themselves, in the ways
that
they have negotiated IFAs with companies (Dehnen, 2013).
The
GUFs, as advocates and guardians of global trade unionism and
industrial
relations more widely, have historically sought to
address
power imbalances within the international trade union
movement.
However, these imbalances are also reflected in the
GUFs:
their structures favour the unions of the developed world
who
contribute most to their funding and governance (Croucher &
Cotton,
2011). The GUFs have addressed this tension through
educational
activities designed to share information, transfer
expertise
and build trans-national solidarity. Long-term workers’
educational
activities, designed to build international and indeed
national
organizing, mobilising and negotiating capacities, have
proved
effective both within and beyond the Russian-speaking
world
(Croucher, 2004; Sogge, 2004; Cotton & Royle, 2014).
However,
a consideration stressed by Croucher and Cotton (2011)
is
vital here: a resource-based view of GUFs’ capacities strongly
suggests
that they have to decide where to put their limited
resources.
These decisions will be informed by the amount of
progress
they are likely to make in any given international
context.