Globalization and its Effects on Global Economies
Globalization is accelerating, resulting in a double effect on global economies. On the one hand, it encourages economic development and job creation, as well as the diffusion of technologies, invention, and imagination, as well as the relaxation of trade restrictions. Globalization, on the other hand, causes unemployment, workplace insecurity, a decrease in union membership, the failure of unions to organize employees, and the abandonment of labor rules by restructuring, marketization, and privatization (Ndiritu, 2015).
Impact on Businesses and Workers
Globalization has made it possible for businesses to relocate to other nations, as well as for workers to be relocated to lower labor-cost regions and non-unionisable areas, leaving labor with little bargaining power. It has generated pressure on businesses to adopt cost minimization strategies such as corporate restructuring and downsizing which hurt workers. A diverse workforce as a result of globalization has posed a challenge to the labor unions with the unions failing to build alliances with the workforce. Globally unemployment rates are on the rise. Moreover, the income and wage inequalities continue to expand with communities polarized between those who have the wealth or skill to gain global integration and those who remain trapped in poverty without productive employment or basic labor standards. According to Hahn & Narjoko (2013), there is substantial evidence that globalization can be associated with increased income inequalities both in developing and developed countries. The globalization of labor has led to the immigration of workers within nations leaving them exposed to poor working conditions.
Enforceable Standards and Implications
The implications of globalization on the labor organization give rise to the need of enforceable standards relating to; freedom from forced labor which contravenes freedom of choice, non-discrimination in employment, elimination of exploitive forms of child labor and freedom of association and collective bargaining. These can be enforced through a social clause in trade agreements.
References
Grace Ndiritu (2015). Challenges Facing Trade Unions in the Modern Society: The currentexodus. International Business & Logistics.
Hahn, C. H., & Narjoko, D. A. (2012). Impact of Globalisation on Labor Market. ERIA Research Project Report, 4.
