Global Labour: A Not-so-grand Finale and Perhaps a new Beginning

Traditional labour movements are in trouble almost everywhere. They have been severely enfeebled by the political and economic changes of the last forty years. Their core consists of three forms of social movement organisations: cooperatives, trade unions and workers’ parties. All three organisational types are in decline, though this is an uneven development with vast differences between countries and regions. We are living through a transitional stage in which old organisational structures no longer seem to work well, while new structures are still in their early stages.