US, UK Workers to Create First Trans-Atlantic Union

Workers from the US and UK are close to joining forces in what would be the first trans-Atlantic labor union, the Wall Street Journal reports. United Steelworkers is in talks with Britain’s Unite to create a 3-million-member group that would act as a single union in the US, Canada, Britain, and Ireland, fighting for workers’ interests amid multi-national companies.

“Now we've got globalization running rampant over workers all over the world, and there's not a counterforce in the labor movement,” said the president of United Steelworkers, made up of 850,000 workers from a variety of industries. A labor expert said while the move wouldn’t “fundamentally change the dynamics” of the union world, “having a presence in the UK will enable (the Steelworkers) to perhaps exert more economic power.” (More labor unions stories.)