Conflicts up in the air: cabin crew resistance in Argentina and Portugal through the lens of the body

Abstract

AbstractWe reflect upon labour conflicts over changes in the flagship airlines in Argentina and Portugal through the lens of the body. In our qualitative, empirical study we refer to these changes as part of a global tendency in the civil aviation sector to intensify the workload and undermine occupational health and safety standards. Defining this as “Ryanairisation”, we argue that the flagship airlines are pushed towards a neoliberal labour model. Via an embedded and relational comparison, we want to highlight labour conflicts in transnational corporations as a relevant sub-discipline of peace and conflict studies along two research questions: Firstly, what corporal impact does Ryanairisation have on cabin crew workers in Argentina (Aerolíneas Argentinas) and Portugal (TAP) during the first stages of renationalisation processes? Secondly, how do cabin crew workers resist the impact at the scale of their bodies? To answer both questions, we combine concepts from Social Reproduction Theory (SRT) and materialist state theory. Despite increasing salaries and improving general working conditions in both countries, we see how nationalised companies relied on the intensification of labour and are pushing workers’ very physical and mental boundaries. We aim to highlight less visible conflicts at workplaces, a) at a rather individual level, b) hybrid collaborative workplace action, and c) organised in trade unions via open confrontations. Workers address the encroachment on their boundaries in diverse ways, from individual to organised forms of resistance. We examine how this also became relevant in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.