SHARING THE PIE: TRADE UNIONISM AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS IN MULTINATIONALS IN BANGLADESH

Using the ‘convergence-divergence’ thesis as the baseline for the study of industrial relations and trade union activities in multinational subsidiaries, the present study tried to investigate the extent of the trade union activities and IR practices of MNCs in a developing country context, i.e. Bangladesh, as well as the influence of the MNCs on trade unions and IR activities within the existing social and economic contexts. The study revealed that comparative power dominance of multinationals over host country industrial relations actors emerge as the vital factor in employer-union bargaining process. In addition, their capacity to manipulate the existing bargaining process also helped them to implement their desired practices in Bangladesh. However, multinationals were not at all in a mood to confront the situation, but their potential lobbying power created difficulties for the employees and the trade unions to develop countervailing power in the collective bargaining process and IR activities. Keywords: Trade Unions, convergence-divergence, multinationals, Bangladesh.For full paper: fmscresearch@sjp.ac.l