Invisible Architects of Labour Internationalism: How Professional Experts Shape Cross‐Border Union Relations in Turkey

ABSTRACT This article examines how local trade unions in Turkey have cultivated global partnerships over the past two decades, with particular attention to how cross‐border interactions are organized and sustained in practice. Although agency‐centred explanations of labour internationalism emphasize the role of progressive union leaders, I shift analytical focus to labour professionals working behind the scenes. Drawing on 51 in‐depth interviews and a systematic review of archival materials, the findings identify two groups of actors central to facilitating transnational alliances since the 2010s: in‐house experts employed by local unions and Turkish expatriate officials working for Global Union Federations. In this context, international union engagement emerges as a complex and dynamic web of relationships shaped by continuous negotiation, trust‐building and communication management across organizational and national boundaries. By exploring these professionals’ responsibilities, identities and strategic practices, the study conceptualizes expert union work as a hybrid occupational niche situated between activism and bureaucracy.