PERSPECTIVE Networking and a Two-track Strategy Perspectives of International Trade Union Activities SARAH GANTER, HORST MUND& MANFRED WANNÖFFEL April 2010 n Social inequality is growing across the globe and can no longer be attributed to different levels of development of nation states n An effective representation of workers’ interests in increasingly multi-dimensional and transnational social spaces and resultant complex constellations of interests is a key challenge for international trade union activities. n The global jobs crisis calls for a two-track strategy on the part of the trade unions, on the one hand strengthening company-based structures through international cooperation and on the other playing an active part at the level of the international trade union movement in the formulation of a new vision of society based on global labour and employment standards. n Only by being firmly anchored at company level and backed up by the workers will trade unions be able to exert lasting influence on the international stage with the aim of striking a balance between global social interests and the more short-term existential needs of the workers.