ABSTRACT
Increasing global integration is having a twofold effect on workers. In many cases, it means that they will have to deal with the harsh realities of globalization: the fact that their company may come under foreign ownership, with the concomitant threat of relocation to another country where labour conditions are more favourable, and the limits to which the state can intervene to alleviate the effects of international economic crises. Some groups of workers are able to take advantage of the opportunities offered, for example those with a skill that is in high demand, and some can cope with or welcome increased flexibility in working conditions. Although the opportunities offered and the constraints on workers in a global economy are by no means new, the dynamics of contemporary capitalism increase the interconnectedness of groups of people in different parts of the world.
