Case studies of union responses to economic crisis in East Asia contest the proposition that unions are powerless in tbe face of the competitive pressures of globalisation, recently intensified by economic crisis and International Monetary Fund programs. Responses to the crisis by the regional organisations of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, and by independent unions in South Korea and tbe Philippines, are analysed. Unions in the region are generally weak and divided, but these independ ent unions have succeeded in organising in spite of repression by both governments and employers. They have formed alliances with other social forces and organised both industrial action and public demonstrations against aspects of International Monetary Fund programs, and called for alternative policies. These actions have had an impoct on the scope of employer and government action and policy.
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