Managerial and mobilizing internationalism in the British docks and seafaring sector

Abstract

This article considers two types of internationalization process among British docks and seafaring unions, distinguishing between ‘mobilizing’ and ‘managerial’ internationalism with reference to two case studies. The article argues that an internationalism which seeks to mobilize membership in an oppositional way is dependent on the framing, by union leadership, of particular material grievances as necessitating an international, rather than national, response. Managerial internationalism, by contrast, sees a more classically bureaucratic division of labour, in which officials administer more general political and regulatory priorities that are derived from membership concerns. The underlying material determinant of these types is argued to be the degree of labour market security possessed by unions involved. Where workers experience a strong challenge to their employment through international labour competition a mobilizing internationalism is more likely to emerge. But these material conditions also engender spatial and temporal limits within which mobilizing internationalism is constrained.