Social Movement Unionism Research Articles

Migration, Development and Work in the Global Order: A New Perspective

Development, migration, and the social response by trade unions are explored in this article from a broad theoretical and comparative perspective. The complex relationship between migration and development is explored as is the new domain of precarious work. Emphasis is laid on the agency of migrants and of collective workers' organizations in the face of the new global order. The main conclusion is that a new form of social movement unionism is necessary to address the needs of the new migrant ‘precariat’ (precarious proletariat). The theoretical-political approach is a postcolonial one.

Swedish trade unionism: A renewed social movement?

Claims as to the emergence of a new phase of unionism – social movement unionism – returning to its original ‘counter-cultural roots’, are closely allied with the claims as to a ‘new labour internationalism’ that is a significant break from the influential postwar trend of nation-statist unionism. This article interrogates these two popular paradigms from the perspective of the Swedish labour movement. The analysis is based on qualitative interviews with union officials, as well as quantitative analysis of union homepage content and responses to surveys among May Day demonstrators. The general conclusion as regards social movement unionism in Sweden is that the major unions, although increasingly interested in cooperation with social movement organizations, are still far from changing the repertoire of action that has been predominant in the postwar period. International solidarity – among both union officials and grassroots activists – is strongly ambivalent, and attitudes to international support oscillate between charity and self-interest.

A ‘New’ Social Movement: US Labor and the Trends of Social Movement Unionism

Abstract“Social movement unionism” (SMU) is frequently understood as the antithesis to business unionism. While business unionism, often characterized as bureaucratic and hierarchical, dominated most of the second half of the 20th century, “SMU” showed resurgence in the 1990s. Some scholars argue that SMU should reach beyond the workplace and incorporate the community. Others seem to be proposing a strategy and understand SMU as tactically innovative and mobilizing in alliance with traditional social movements, such as the women’s, environmental, or immigrant rights movement. Some offer propositions about the social processes of a labor union and that SMU must be internally democratic. Finally, some advocate an internationalist component such as a link to global‐justice campaigns. In this article, I propose that SMU consists of an array of trends and is inclusive of these varied descriptions, strategies or processes. These trends include (1) rank‐and‐file mobilization, (2) leadership, (3) community‐based organizing, (4) worker centers, (5) corporate campaigns, and (6) transnational components. I draw on social movement and labor literatures to seek a broader understanding of this labor organizing form.

Class and Social Movements in Scandinavia since 1945

Since the end of the Second World War, economic affluence, a neoliberal turn in world politics and economic globalisation have questioned the relevance of social class as a useful social science category. Analysing the changing configuration of labour markets, structural insecurity, labour movements and welfare states, this essay tries to revive the empirical validity of the notion of working class in a Scandinavian context. As a starting point I discuss how changing occupational patterns and state intervention transformed the basic class structure of the three Scandinavian countries Denmark, Sweden and Norway. This led to new trends in consumption, saving and the way ordinary people coped with social insecurity. These developments made heavy demands on the labour movement, which was challenged from within by renewed grassroots activity, i. e. social movement unionism, and from without by new social movements. Recently the Scandinavian countries were exposed to globalisation. The result was a further division of the working class and new organisational and political cleavage structures.

Trade unions and corporate campaigning in a global economy: The case of James Hardie

This article analyses a campaign led by the Australian Council of Trade Unions, against James Hardie Industries Limited, concerning their responsibility and liability to fully fund asbestos compensation claims. Across the Anglo-American world, trade unions are faced with increasingly hostile legislative and political environments and a declining membership base. In addition, the globalization of capital increasingly allows for organizational mobility and reduced commitment to specific communities or workers. These factors can have a significant impact on union effectiveness, particularly due to their national focus. In response, the concepts of corporate campaigning and social movement unionism have increasingly been used by unions as a strategy to influence and contest corporate policy decisions. This high profile case illustrates the critical role that corporate campaigning can play in ensuring that the mobility of capital does not override justice in a global economy.

Social Movement Unionism: From Description To Exhortation

Social Movement Unionism: From Description To Exhortation

Schools for Democracy

Scholars have long argued that civic organizations play a vital role in developing members’ civic capacity. Yet few empirical studies examine how and the extent to which civic skills transfer across distinct and separate civic contexts. Focusing on Latino immigrant members of a Los Angeles janitors’ labor union, this article fills a void by investigating union members’ involvement in an independent civic arena—their children’s schools. Analyses of random sample survey and semi-structured interview data demonstrate that labor union experience does not simply lead to more civic engagement, as previous research might suggest. Rather, conceptual distinctions must be made between active and inactive union members and between different types of civic engagement. Results show that active union members are not particularly involved in plug-in types of involvement, which are typically defined and dictated by school personnel. Instead, active union members tend to become involved in critical forms of engagement that allow them to voice their interests and exercise leadership. Furthermore, findings suggest that the problem solving, advocacy, and organizing skills acquired through union participation do not uniformly influence members’ civic engagement. Experience in a social movement union serves as a catalyst for civic engagement for some, while it enhances the leadership capacity of others.

Reaching out for strength within? ‘Social movement unionism’ in a small country setting

ABSTRACTTrade unions around the developed world face common challenges in terms of declining membership and influence, and ‘conventional’ union revival strategies have yielded limited success. A relatively recent innovation has been the embrace of ‘social movement unionism’ (SMU), which challenges traditional workplace conceptions of trade union roles via alliances with campaigning civil society organisations. This empirical study examines how SMU is conceived and applied in a small country context, focusing on the role of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions. The findings suggest that SMU can appeal to trade union associations in smaller national (or regional) settings owing to a combination of institutional and size effects which concentrate networks. This has implications for unions and union federations interested in advancing both workplace and wider social justice concerns.

The international labour movement and China

ABSTRACTThis article considers the relationship between Chinese and Western labour activists. It analyses this relationship in reference to ‘vertical’ and ‘horizontal’ divisions of global power, drawing on world‐systems and social movement unionism literature to illustrate this. It argues for a conceptual middle ground to develop useful engagement strategies.

Transnational Labour Solidarity and Social Movement Unionism: Insights from and beyond a Women Workers' Strike in Turkey

AbstractThrough an analysis of solidarity across borders and social groups in connection with and beyond a strike on the part primarily of women workers at a foreign‐owned factory in Turkey's Antalya Free Zone, this article contributes to the debate on the two union renewal strategies of transnational labour solidarity and coalition building with social movements. In the case at hand, the extensive strike‐related support on the part of external unions and the women's movement illustrates the positive difference that solidarity practices can make. However, looking beyond the strike itself, the case points to significant challenges related to the development of deeper and more proactive solidarity across borders and social groups.

Union Democracy and Labour Rights: A Cautionary Tale

In recent years, trade unions in Canada have become increasingly reliant on constructing workers’ rights as part of the broader rubric of human rights. While the topic of labour rights has become popular in recent academic literature, it remains under explored. An important element of constructing labour rights as human rights is its impact on union democracy and rank-and-file mobilization, though this has yet to be fully explored. Utilizing the case study of the Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU) struggle against Bill 29, this paper suggests that a reliance on the construction of labour rights as human rights and the corresponding judicial strategy prevents the development of a from a more radical, grassroots social movement unionism and instead facilitates the proliferation of hierarchical, elite dominated forms trade unionism. It concludes by suggesting that unions must be cautious of the potential downfalls of quelling militant grassroots activism in lieu of a rights-based challenge.

Neoliberal Globalization and Trade Unionism: Toward Radical Political Unionism?

This article revisits the question of changing forms of trade unionism within the context of neoliberal globalization. While broadly accepting the argument that globalization might encourage the development of more radical forms of unionism as survival strategies, it argues that such radicalism cannot be understood satisfactorily by the term social movement unionism (SMU). This is due to over-reliance on theories of the new social movements (NSMs), which produce a largely de-classed and de-politicized perspective. The article uses insights gained from theoretical work on protest and labour movement development to bring the state back into the analysis and applies this analysis to oppositional trade union practice in a variety of institutional contexts. It concludes by making a case for understanding contemporary forms of oppositional trade union strategy through the term radical political unionism which takes account of both its social and political determinants as well as the agency role played by political leaderships.

“Taking on Corporate Bullies”: Cintas, Laundry Workers, and Organizing in the 1930s and Twenty-First Century

Based on interviews with workers and organizers, union and company records, legal documents, and media sources, this article compares laundry unionism in the 1930s and early 2000s at Cintas, North America’s largest industrial launderer and uniform rental provider. Employing resource mobilization theory, social movement unionism, and collective identity theory, the article argues that laundry workers were able to organize in the 1930s because of the simultaneous presence of union resources and internal activist solidarities at the shop floor level. While UNITE HERE (now Workers United) has run an innovative comprehensive campaign to organize Cintas, the absence of solidarity on the shop floor has impeded organization.

JOHN SWEENEY'S LEGACY AND THE FUTURE OF THE AFL-CIO

Assuming the federation presidency in the first contested election in AFL-CIO history, John Sweeney, elected as a reform candidate in 1995, vowed to halt U.S. labor's downward trajectory through the launching of massive union organizing drives and implementing an array of innovative programs. Although he initially inspired tremendous confidence in various sectors of the U.S. trade union movement, by 2003, an incipient opposition movement to Sweeney had emerged within the AFL-CIO which culminated in a number of unions leaving the federation and forming the Change to Win Federation in 2005. This article critically analyzes the fourteen-year administration of John Sweeney as president of the AFL-CIO (1995–2009). I argue that although the Sweeney administration made a number of important advances when compared with the previous two administrations of George Meany and Lane Kirkland, Sweeney's approach was fundamentally flawed because he implemented a type of social movement unionism from above. This article concludes that for a revival of the U.S. trade union movement to take place, a social movement unionism from below must be developed by the rank-and-file workers themselves.

Why the Labor Movement is Not a Movement

vened, and a new language of labor revitalization emerged. A dominant theme in this discourse has been the idea that to regain the power it once had as the voice for the working class, organized labor must become a movement again. Many observers promoted social movement unionism as a neces sary and welcomed departure from the old model of business unionism. Commentators used the rhetoric of social movements while exploring ways that unions could adopt movement-style tactics, recruit a more diverse membership, fuse with social movements, broaden their goals, and mobilize workers. So how have we fared in our efforts to trans

Worker agency and trade union renewal: the case of Poland

Contrary to predictions of continued weakness of the union movement in post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, in recent years Polish trade unions have undertaken various revitalisation attempts, including campaigns to organise unions in the private sector. Although the existing literature accounts for this internal union transformation by referring to macrosocial and institutional factors, this article suggests that the emerging potential of union renewal is linked with the new forms of union activism and worker agency. This asser tion is based on an exploratory empirical study using 45 biographical narrative interviews with company-level union representatives in Poland.The analysis reveals the existence of ‘transitional’ and ‘reinvented’ patterns of union activism. The article concludes that new unionism in Poland does not resemble an economic unionism or broad social movement unionism as suggested by other authors. On the contrary, it follows a path that combines the reinvented union ethos with market-oriented strategies.

Globalisation and the Working Class in South Korea: Contestation, Fragmentation and Renewal

This paper explores the impact of globalisation on the working class in South Korea. Globalisation in South Korea has been distinctive in that it has taken place during the transition to democracy. While democratisation has empowered workers to organise, globalisation has undermined the strength of the organised workers, segmenting regular workers from contingent workers. The abrupt neo-liberal economic reforms that followed the financial crisis of 1997-98 totally transformed the structure of the labour market, generating massive numbers of contingent workers who are vulnerable to economic insecurity and social risks. Under the system of company unions, the militant economic unionism that developed among unions in big corporations demonstrated its limitations in promoting the interests of contingent workers. As the struggles of contingent workers have expanded, social movement unionism, which unifies labour issues and social issues, has emerged as an alternative to militant economic unionism of unions composed of regular workers. This movement could provide a glimpse of a possible new future for the union movement in other Asian countries that have experienced similar economic and political changes.

Labour market or labour movement? The union density bias as barrier to labour renewal

Most labour scholars view the unionised share of the labour market, union density, as the movement’s primary source of power. Conversely, social movement scholars usually consider power embedded in disruption, organisational networks, resources, or political opportunities. Although many labour scholars promote ‘social movement unionism’ to reverse labour’s decline, they have largely failed to adopt a thoroughgoing social movement perspective. A sign of this is that union density remains the sacrosanct indicator of organised labour’s success and power. I argue that this density bias has significant analytical implications, leading observers to overlook non-market sources of movement power, to reduce a heterogeneous movement to a single organisational form, and to oversimplify the complex processes of movement organizing. I contend that treating labour explicitly as a social movement rather than implicitly as an agent in a market will open new lines of inquiry that may strengthen analyses of labour’s prospects for renewal.

Maneuvering the spaces of globalization: The rearticulation of the Bolivian labor movement

Human geographers and others have started to challenge the language of fait accompli that often surrounds discussions of workers and globalization. Labor geography and debates on social movement unionism stress the new horizontal and vertical strategies pursued by labor unions in maneuvering the spaces of globalization. In this article the author argues that these debates have failed to take into account properly the deep-seated transformations of work regimes that have taken place in some contexts, particularly in the global South, how these transformations are associated with internal shifts in union membership, and what that means for union politics. In the Bolivian case examined in the article, economic liberalization and foreign direct investment (FDI) have weakened industrial workers and strengthened informal sectors internally, which have brought about a rearticulation of class visions, claims and collective identities towards greater sensitivity to ethnicity politics. This can arguably make labor unions more democratically responsive, and it has enabled the Bolivian labor movement to successfully press some of its claims, such as greater state involvement in natural resource sectors. However, this rearticulation also points to exacerbated problems of finding room for workplace politics in social movement unionism and labor geography in the global South.

Social movement unionism or professionalism? the union movement of Taiwanese documentary makers

Taiwanese documentaries have grown rapidly in terms of local consumption and production since the 2000s, despite the dominance of Hollywood in the local film market. However, most documentary workers still suffer from poor working conditions because of a lack of sufficient resources for local productions. In response to this situation, Taiwanese documentary makers founded a labour union in 2006 to protect their basic working rights. This paper describes this union movement as well as analysing the challenges that it encounters. These challenges include a very low degree of participation in unions among Taiwanese cultural workers, anti-union sentiment among professionals and freelancers and the ‘association-prone’, as opposed to ‘union-prone’ nature of Taiwanese occupational unions. Despite these obstacles, the strong traditional linkages between Taiwanese documentary-makers and dissenting social and political movements has enabled the documentary workers' union to pursue a form of ‘social movement unionism’, which opens up opportunities for revitalisation even when there is a general decline of the trade union movement.