ABSTRACT
An important aim of the globalization project is to enhance the freedom of corporations to operate across national boundaries. Free-trade policies prevent governments imposing tariff barriers that would raise the price of imports thereby protecting local industries from market competition and workers from lower-wage competition in other countries and discourage governments from subsidizing agricultural production. The hypermobility of capital is not simply an aspiration and aspect of globalization but also a corporate weapon of choice: actual or threatened locational freedom is used to subordinate workforces in higher-wage countries. Greater capital mobility in the global epoch brought us 'capital flight', equivalent to perpetual potential strike action by capital. The opportunities for labour organization to chase capitalism to the furthest corners of the globe are provided by the forces of globalization. The adverse impacts on labour of capital mobility are mitigated if nation-based unions are complemented by truly global ones.
