From action to communication?. Explaining the changing context of worker occupations as direct forms of action with reference to the case of contemporary Spain
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425451111174120 |
| Date | 04 October 2011 |
| Pages | 654-669 |
| Published date | 04 October 2011 |
| Author | Miguel Martínez Lucio |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
From action to communication?
Explaining the changing context of worker
occupations as direct forms of action with
reference to the case of contemporary Spain
Miguel Martı
´nez Lucio
University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
Abstract
Purpose – The relative absence of worker occupations in recent years in a context of major
restructuring and unemployment has raised issues in Spain as to the changing nature of specific forms
of direct action. This paper seeks to argue that it is important, in the case of Spain, to discuss how
worker occupations have been changing and developing over time if the changing pattern, character
and impact of worker unrest and direct action is to be understood.
Design/methodology/approach – The research materials for this paper are based on a series of
meetings and interviews with union officers and activists that draw on various projects on union
development in Spain during the years 1983-1988, 2000-2002 and 2009-2010, and the study of a range
of secondary texts.
Findings – The paper suggests that, as well as discussing questions of motives, whether economic or
political, accounting for the socio-economic context and the changing nature of the workforce in terms
of its degree of concentration, the changing nature of labour market stability, and the relationship of
workers to “stable” workplaces and work is required. Additionally, there is a need to account for how
workers reference and recall (or not) previous modes of mobilising and actions.
Practical implications – Discussing worker occupations should involve issues of political purpose,
economic context, the changing nature of work and workers, and the role of memory and historical
framing if an appreciation of their varying nature and presence within the landscape of labour
relations is to be made. Hence, a multi-dimensional understanding of the context of worker action is
required.
Social implications – The implications of the paper are that conflict of work needs to be understood
in broader terms, and that worker related activities can be highly innovative.
Originality/value – The paper examines union and worker responses to the current recession in
Spain and focuses on the role and context of unofficial approaches, especially worker occupations, to
the changing workplace.
Keywords Workplace conflict,Industrial action, Spain, Industrial relations, Disputes,
Organizationalrestructuring
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The issue of worker occupations as a form of direct action has returned as a topic of
industrial relations discussion in recent years, not least because of the current
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
The author would like to thank Holm-Detlev Ko
¨hler, Luis Enrique Alonso, Carlos Jesus
Fernandez, Gregor Gall, Stephen Mustchin and Antonio Santos for advice and insights into the
current situation in Spain and Britain with regard to direct forms of worker action such as
occupations. He would also like to thank Keith Povey for reading and advising on technical
corrections.
ER
33,6
654
Employee Relations
Vol. 33 No. 6, 2011
pp. 654-669
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/01425451111174120
recession. A series of occupations across a range of countries has highlighted the
continuing role and importance of such activities. Indeed, there have recently been
high-profile worker occupations in countries as different as Argentina and Britain. For
some commentators, this leads inevitably to a broader discussion of worker
mobilisation. The tendency to view the current spate of occupations as a resurrection of
specific forms of focused worker mobilisation aimed at the socio-economic system is a
reflection of an inbuilt concern with the way more institutionalist and moderat e views
of industrial relations emerged during the 1990s, with their emphasis on “supply-side”
labour unionism. Thus, the growth or strengthening of more institutionalised
responses to industrial restructuring, for example, is such that there appears to be a
highly structured, and even bureaucratic, approach to dealing with closure and
redundancies, and this is seen to limit (or at best to condition) the role of mobilisation in
the broader sense of the term. This paper aims to steer through some of these
discussions and arrive at a broader historical understanding of such worker activities.
The context of Spain is interesting from this point of view, being a country that has
witnessed diverse forms of mobilisation and collective action by workers in various
periods of its modern history. The paper, therefore, examines union and worker
responses to the current recession in Spain and focuses on the role and context of more
unofficial approaches, especially worker occupations. Direct and interventionist forms
of worker action (such as occupations) that overtly challenge the structures and
assumptions of capitalist ownership systems are an important part of the labour
movement’s history. Yet, while remaining a response to the nature of ownership in a
capitalist society, these phenomena have emerged as a result of diverse political and
organisational factors (Gall, 2010), evolving in ways that suggest their relevance to
issues of renewal in labour unionism.
The research materials for this paper are based on a series of meetings and
interviews with union officers and activists, drawing on various individually executed
projects on union development in Spain during the years 1983-1988, 2000-2002 and
2009-2010, and the study of a range of secondary texts. The first wave of interviews
and meetings formed part of two larger individual research projects studying uni on
development in Spain and consisted of around 200 interviews, though only a selection
of these (approximately 20) dealt with direct forms of action in the construction and
metal manufacturing industries. The first wave also included visits to occupied
factories, such as Uralita to the south of Madrid, in the mid-1980s. The second wave
involved meeting five union personnel from the telecommunications sector and another
five unionists at the national/confederal level, and was focused on the case of SINTEL
(see below). The third wave comprised five meetings with union personnel in metal
manufacturing and mining, to discuss occupations. These direct forms of research
were supplemented by online materials and more traditional archive materials
referring to worker occupations during the past five years in Spain. The three waves of
research focused on changing aspects of mobilisation. The paper draws on a range of
examples from this research to reflect the changing nature of action and politics within
worker occupations. Several short case studies are used to illustrate the shifting
patterns of worker occupations as well as their diversity. These are not intended to
focus on the development and internal politics of worker occupations, but rather to look
at how they vary and position themselves as events and actions.
From action to
communication?
655
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