Summary: The Impacts Of Neo-Liberal Globalization

The impacts of neo-liberal globalisation and the responses of trade unions in Japan and Argentina

Prof Devan Pillay

Course Title: Trade Union Strategies in the context of neo-liberal globalisation and eco-logic of capitalism

LPG R1, University of Kassel

Authored by: Milan Huhn, Shani Landau, Mostafa Heneway and Rhoda Boateng

October 21, 2014

Introduction

The impacts of neo-liberal globalisation has exacerbated in a short time the ecological and social crisis for people across the world, immensly. Despite only being a tiny dot of the history of capitalism. Although globalisation in itself is not inherently evil, it can also be a force for transnational solidarity or a globalisation from below. But the

To understand the connections between human development and nature, one has to consider that nature is one basic source of value. ( Marx 2008) The use value on its behalf is the real wealth of the people and the exchange value is the basisof the capitalistic system. (Marx 2008) In other words because nature produces value (in the combination with labor power), neither humanity nor the capitalistic system can exist without it.In this sense one could assume that it is an intrinsic interest of the capitalistic system to protect the environment but quite the reverse

It is not only that nature suffers from the toxic outcome of industrial production (air and water pollution, plastic waste etc), the environment becomes itself a target of human greed. (Altvater 2007: 2). Natural resources get exploited and the Bio-sphere is shaped for human consumption. This process could be described as the eco-logic of capitalism (cited in Pillay 2010). Capitalism will reach its natural limits and with it also the limits of human existence by the logic of its own mechanism. This development will hit all humans on earth, rich and poor. But it will strike the working class harder and faster, because wealth also enables one to avoid risks. To have an indepth understanding of the impact of neo liberalism on eco-logic crises and informalisation of labor, we analyse the trade union responses in Japan and Argentina.

History of Argentine trade unionism

Coming from a strong position before the 70’s, defined by corporatsm, highly insitutionalized organisations and political unionism, with the beginning of the neoliberal reforms and the growing dependence of loans from the north, the informal sector expanded. In addition to cuts to the welfare state and a deteriorating labor legislation, the trade unions lost stand and started to weaken.

History of Japanese trade