International Trade Union Development Cooperation: A Case Study of the Swedish Organisation Union to Union

Sammanfattning

Union to Union is a Swedish organisation that works with development aid in order to strengthen labour rights through international development cooperation with trade unions across the world, by working with development projects in countries where trade unions are weak. Even though trade union cooperation has existed for many decades, this type of development work is unusual between trade unions, which makes the organisation an interesting case to study since it gives an unique insight into how development cooperation can look like. This thesis aims to provide a qualitative case study of Union to Union and seeks to answer what challenges is Union to Union facing when working to strengthening labour rights through international development cooperation and what strategies does the organisation apply to handle the challenges. The data is based on interviews with employees at the organisation, reports and the organisations Strategy plan 2022-2027. The data is thematically analysed through the lenses of transnational advocacy networks, labour internationalism and dependency theory. The finding suggests that there are both internal and external challenges for the organisation, but also direct and indirect strategies to address them.