ABSTRACT
For Asian workers these negative impacts of globalization have been exacerbated by the lack of adequate legislative protection and institutional support systems (Rowley and Benson 2000). This has meant that trade unions represent one of the few institutions capable of achieving some measure of equity and social justice for workers. Trade unions can do this through workplace representation and bargaining and also through their capacity to play a wider role in influencing economic, legislative and social reforms. Yet, such a role is problematic as in many Asian economies trade union activities have been severely constrained. This raises the question of whether globalization has improved the potential of Asian
trade unions to independently represent workers and whether their prospects are likely to improve in the future.
