The global labour movement has been divided over ‘free trade’. Many unions in
the Global North, especially in export-oriented sectors, supported such
agreements to secure markets and jobs, while unions in the Global South opposed
them having experienced job losses and deindustrialisation. In my new article, ‘Divisions
in the Core of Global Capitalism? Italian Labour and “Free Trade”’,
published in the journal New Political Economy, I demonstrate that a
split has opened up in the core of global capitalism. Against the background of
drastic deindustrialisation, Italian trade unions have moved to an explicit
anti – ‘free trade’ position, while especially the export sector German
and Scandinavian trade unions continue their support.
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