ABSTRACT
This chapter uses the metaphors factory Asia and service Asia to provide a critical analysis of Asia's integration in globalized systems of production in industrial goods and offshore services and examines how both have led to increasing differentiation within labour markets. The processes of economic globalization during the last three decades have led to radical changes in the economy of many Asian countries. For trade unions in developing Asia, the internationalization of production was seen as part of a new international division of labour(NIDL). The chapter focuses on trade union critiques that the developments have eroded labour rights and weakened the labour. The most dramatic development in the global trade in services is the phenomenal rise of outsourcing and offshoring of service activities that used to be done in the home countries of multinational companies(MNCs). The chapter then concludes that fostering inclusive and sustainable growth in Asia requires a major rethinking of Asia's integration in global production networks.
