Multinational Enterprises and the Politics of Labor in the Twentieth Century: Panel 1

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) rely on labor in home and host countries to carry out their production, sales, and service operations and increase profits. In many cases, labor market conditions (such as lower wages) even motivate multinationals to enter a host country in the first place. By the same token, organized labor and labor protections pose significant challenges to MNEs. In response, MNEs have long used various business organizations to shape labor market regulations, influence international organizations such as the International Labor Organization, and collectively assert their primacy over employees in host countries. By bringing together historians of multinationals and labor, these panels aim to reposition labor at the center of multinational business.