This article examines the typology of worker centres from a socio-spatial perspective. Drawing on ethnographic and qualitative fieldwork and applying the multidimensional TPSN (Territory, Place, Scale and Network) framework, it analyses three worker centres: Make the Road New York (MRNY), Retail Action Project (RAP) and Laundry Workers Center (LWC). Each model is the result of the predominance of certain logics of action, political strategies, and spatialities. The multidimensional socio-spatial approach allows us to identify the advantages and problems of each strategy. MRNY shows a territory-based strategy that combines membership participation with effective advocacy on different scales. RAP, despite focusing on services, has been able to overcome the fragmentation of the retail industry and escalate to regulating labour relations at the industry level. LWC prioritises workplace organising and shows a high level of experimentalism and grassroots base, although the results of their irradiation strategy are very modest. Resumen: Este art ıculo examina la tipolog ıa de centros de trabajadores desde una perspectiva socio-espacial. Bas andose en trabajo de campo etnogr afico y cualitativo, y aplicando el marco multidimensional Territorio, Lugar, Escala y Red (TPSN en ingl es), analiza tres centros de trabajadores: Make the Road New York (MRNY), Retail Action Project (RAP) y Laundry Workers Center (LWC). Cada modelo es el resultado del predominio de ciertas l ogicas de acci on, estrategias pol ıticas y espacialidades. La aproximaci on socio-espacial multidimensional permite identificar las ventajas y problemas de cada estrategia. MRNY muestra una estrategia basada en el territorio, que combina la participaci on de las bases con un trabajo efectivo de incidencia pol ıtica en diferentes escalas. RAP, a pesar de estar centrada en la provisi on de servicios, ha sido capaz de superar la fragmentaci on de la industria del comercio al por menor y escalar hacia la regulaci on de las relaciones laborales a nivel de industria. LWC prioriza la organizaci on en los centros de trabajo y muestra un alto grado de experimentalidad y car acter de base, aunque los resultados de su estrategia de irradiaci on son por el momento bastante modestos.
This article aims to study the collective strategies and social networks of young Spanish emigrants in the European Union, paying special attention to their perceptions of and practices regarding working conditions, as well as their relationships with the trade unions and social movements. The article focuses on two case studies of migrant self-organisation networks: the Union Action Group of Berlin, Germany and the Solidarity Federation in Brighton, UK. On the basis of semi-structured interviews and document analysis, the article concludes that the existing gap between trade unions and migrant labour can, under certain circumstances, favour the emergence of solidarity networks which in part play the role of trade unions. We call this type of organisation interstitial trade unionism.
This article analyzes how Southern European workers create bricolage by combining creatively organized practices of collective action, such as those of conventional labor unions, with self-created practices when facing oppressive labor relations and widespread downgrading of social mobility. We compare two cases of networks formed by Spanish and Italian migrant workers in Berlin: the Grupo de Acción Sindical and Berlin Migrant Strikers. Drawing on an ethnographic study of these groups, the article argues that the networks have different logics of action and political strategies. Their dissimilarities are manifested in different outcomes and organizational dimensions. Key factors include their founding members' social and activist backgrounds and leaders' countries of origin. It can be argued that, through these networks, migrants produce and reproduce political practices and collective actions, shaping a transnational social space that connects migrants and non-migrant individuals and organizations from both origin and destination countries.
This article analyses the strategy of major Spanish trade unions in the context of economic crisis through the theoretical framework of political exchange. It focuses on a frequently ignored dimension of political exchange, namely the relationship between union leaders and the rank-and-file, which, under certain circumstances, can lead to a crisis of representation. Based on document analysis and semi-structured interviews, this article explores the strategic behaviour of Spanish trade unions and their relationship with the so-called 15M movement. It concludes that the ambiguous strategy of the major unions can be explained, not only as a result of their effort to preserve their institutional power and their political influence in the public sphere, but also as a response to the emergence of the 15M movement, which has made these organizations confront the threat of a crisis of representation.
This article analyses the strategies and the collective action of radical agrarian trade unions in Andalusia (the southern region of Spain) from the Political Transition until today. It traces the origins, evolution and recent transformations of the radical day labourer organisation, the Land Workers Union (Sindicato de Obreros del Campo) and the Andalusian Union of Workers (Sindicato Andaluz de Trabajadores). The article outlines the main factors for the survival of these organisations by using a synthetic and eclectic theoretical approach to collective action.
Los sentidos y el 'saber hacer' de los pescadores andaluces 1 David Florido del Corral. Grupo de Investigación GEISA, Universidad de Sevilla.Conocimiento sensitivo y el uso del cuerpo en el trabajo de los pescadores andaluces.En una queja elevada por la Diputación Provincial de Huelva a las Cortes, en 1837, se define la marinería como un oficio, Este pequeño fragmento nos parece especialmente interesante porque hace hincapié en dos aspectos, uno implícito y otro explícito, que siguen estando presentes en las formas de trabajo de los pescadores y marineros -"la gente de la mar"-andaluces. El aspecto explícito es el carácter pragmático del conocimiento sobre el propio trabajo y en el trabajo. El otro de los elementos, si bien implícito y por contraposición, no es de menor importancia: se trata de un práctica cognoscitiva en la que las facultades exclusivamente teóricas 3 no son suficientes.El texto no nos dice explícitamente qué tipo de talento debe ser desarrollado por los pescadores para que su conocimiento les ofrezca soluciones prácticas a su quehacer cotidiano y sobre este vacío es precisamente sobre el que nosotros queremos llamar la atención, convencidos de que ahí se encierra una de las claves para la concepción de la pesca artesanal en su origen y desenvolvimiento histórico.En otro trabajo 4 , nos hemos referido a la tecnología fisiológica, conjunto de capacidades y habilidades desarrolladas tradicionalmente por los pescadores a partir de su propio cuerpo y de las cualidades perceptivas para el ejercicio de esta actividad: nos referimos a habilidades sensitivas, como el uso de percepciones visuales, olfativas y auditivas, u otras intelectuales como la memoria, para fines productivos. En el mismo sentido, podemos 1 El presente artículo se realiza a partir del trabajo de campo realizado en las localidades de Barbate y Conil de la Frontera, en la costa meridional de Cádiz, para la realización de nuestra Tesis Doctoral.
Because of its recent and rapid growth, the Spanish development apparatus provides an appropriate arena for studying nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). This article uses case studies of three NGOs-Manos Unidas, Intermón Oxfam, and Madre Coraje-to explore the tension between the internal and external dynamics that affect these organizations. Although powerful external forces promote structural isomorphism with its attendant bureaucratization and professionalization, several internal factors-youth, small size, certain ideologies, charismatic leaders, and privileging identification with the organization rather than expertise when recruiting participants-resist these homogenizing processes. DiMaggio and Powell' s iron cage hypothesis (1983) therefore can be only partially confirmed. We suggest an intriguing, intimate connection between charisma and democracy.
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