The New York Times today reports:

The United Steelworkers signed a merger agreement on Wednesday with the largest labor organization in Britain and Ireland to create what union leaders said would be the world’s first global union.

The new union, to be called Workers Uniting, will represent more than 2.8 million workers in the steel, paper, oil, health care and transportation industries. Officials said the union plans to hold trans-Atlantic negotiations with companies including the oil conglomerate BP, and ArcelorMittal, the giant steel maker.

“This union is crucial for challenging the growing power of global capital,” said Leo W. Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers, which represents 850,000 workers in the United States and Canada.

While the rhetoric sounds about forty to fifty years out of date, the trans-Atlantic mobilization that this organization will be able to effect cannot be denied.  This may well  be the first in a wave of future international union mergers, designed to allow organized labor to assert its relevance in a global marketplace.  Multi-national employers in all industries must take note.