EoW September 2008

T ransat lant ic Cable

this year – Tanzania, Nigeria, and South Africa. However, positive opinions of the United States have declined in neighbouring Mexico (by nine points) and by 11 points in Japan – a traditional US ally. The image of the United States also remains overwhelmingly negative in most of the predominantly Muslim countries surveyed, though no more so than in recent years.

Rehabilitation post-Bush?

Slightly and conditionally, US standing in the eyes of the world is showing signs of improvement

Labour

For the first time this decade there are some encouraging signs for America’s global image, according to the results of the latest survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project. The 24-nation survey, conducted 17 th March to 21 st April, shows that favourable views of the US have increased modestly since 2007 in ten of 21 countries where comparative data are available. And signs are strong that further revival will follow the exit of President George W Bush from the world stage. Even so, five years after the start of the US-led war in Iraq, the survey released 12 th June, of more than 24,000 people in 24 countries, indicates that the image of the United States abroad remains far less positive than it was before the war and at the beginning of the century. The Pew Global Attitudes Project is an undertaking of the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan, Washington, DC-based ‘fact tank’ that provides information on issues, attitudes, and trends shaping America and the world. Here are a few excerpts from the most recent Pew survey: The polling finds many people around the world paying close ❈ ❈ attention to the US presidential election [set for 4 th November]. Except in countries that are extremely anti-American, those paying attention generally believe the next president may well change US foreign policy for the better. In nearly every country surveyed, greater numbers express confidence in presidential candidate Barack Obama than in his rival John McCain. The Global Attitudes survey finds growing symmetry in the way ❈ ❈ that the United States and China are viewed by people all around the world. Both countries are widely seen as taking a unilateralist approach in their relations with other nations, and both are seen as having considerable influence on other countries. As global warming gains in importance to the citizens of the world, both the US and China are criticised for the way they deal with environmental problems. Large majorities in countries ranging from economically advanced ❈ ❈ to developing (such as Egypt and Indonesia) say that what happens in the American economy affects economic conditions in their own countries. With only a few exceptions, the American economy is now seen as having a negative impact on national economies, both large and small, in all parts of the world. The view that the American economy is hurting their national ❈ ❈ economies is most prevalent among the publics of Western Europe. About seven in ten people in Great Britain, Germany, and France say that the US economy is having a negative impact on economic conditions in their countries. India and Nigeria are the only nations surveyed where more than a third of respondents express a positive view of America’s economic influence. Preference for Obama

Steelworkers of the US and their British and Irish counterparts are set to form a new, huge union

The United Steelworkers (USW), America’s largest private-sector union, and Unite the Union, the largest labour organisation in the United Kingdom and Ireland, have signed an agreement clearing the way for the creation of the world’s first global union. Under the name Workers Uniting, the new union will have 2.85 million members, not only in the steel industry but also in paper, oil, health care, and transportation. Under the terms of the agreement, the USW and Unite the Union will retain their identities even as they work on coordinating their efforts and organisations. Each union will retain its own president for the time being, but the new entity will have a joint steering committee and an executive director to coordinate transatlantic activities. The United Steelworkers was frequently embattled over the course of its history since 1942, and its current president worked a challenging note into the merger announcement. Leo W Gerard, who leads 850,000 USW workers in the US and Canada, said of the new behemoth: “This union is crucial for challenging the growing power of global capital.” Derek Simpson, general secretary of Unite, the Union’s Amicus division, was similarly forceful on 2 nd July in Las Vegas, where the merger was announced. He told a steelworkers’ convention, “Our mission is to advance the interests of millions of workers throughout the world who are being shamefully exploited.” The new union has set out an ambitious programme for itself. It plans to set up operations in Colombia to help protect union members from violence, in Liberia to aid rubber workers, and in India to help impoverished shipbuilding workers. All this will be in addition to saving manufacturing jobs in the US, Canada, Britain, and Ireland, and joint collective bargaining with employers in the paper, chemical, and titanium industries. Workers Uniting will moreover actively seek to expand its sphere of influence. Its founding constitution calls on its members to “build global union activism, recognising that uniting as workers across international boundaries is the only way to challenge the injustices of globalisation.”

Manufacturing

Both the US and Canada show gains in the sector, but to limited effect Manufacturing in the US grew in June for the first time in six months, according to a closely watched survey by the Institute for Supply Management. The group’s manufacturing index rose

Overall, opinions of the United States are most positive in South ❈ ❈ Korea, Poland, India, and in the three African countries surveyed

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EuroWire – September 2008