An international union? About time

If a merger of two British unions go through, the new Amicus and its American and German unions with which it has alliances would have a combined membership of more than 7.5 million members. A full merger of manufacturing unions in three of the largest economies of the world (including No. 1 and 3) would be huge.

Derek Simpson, general secretary of Amicus, said: “Our aim is to create a powerful single union that can transcend borders to challenge the global forces of capital. I envisage a functioning, if loosely federal, multinational trade union organisation within the next decade.”

Here’s hoping that Derek Simpson is right. The decline of First World trade unionism needs to be reversed and fast.