Gendered division of trade union protests? Strategies, activities and outcomes of union activity among miners and nurses in Poland

Abstract

The article examines whether gender might be a key to understanding the different patterns of protests organized by miners and nurses, two active occupational groups that are characteristically masculine and feminine, respectively. The gender division does not imply symmetry, as the situations of women and men on the labour market and in the trade union movement are different. The article identifies differences and similarities between these two groups in terms of discourse and tactics and the general strategy and outcomes of strike and protest actions within a framework that enables us to study both occupations and their trade unions in terms of hegemonic masculinity theory. Can the gendered character of protests be one key to understanding the successes or failures of the trade union movement? The theory of hegemonic masculinity is used to analyse the organization and reception of strikes and protests by nurses and miners.

Was it a strike? Notes on the Polish Women’s Strike and the Strike of Parents of Persons with Disabilities.

“…Both protests disturbed the work of public institutions and blocked public spaces which is a well known tactic of workers' protests, especially in contemporary Poland, where a strike action is unavailable for many groups of workers for formal reasons. The most famous demonstrations and occupations in recent Polish history were made by nurses (Kubisa 2014), coal miners (Kubisa 2016b), and teachers (Czarzasty 2017). Both protests were preceded by attempts at negotiation and other forms of resistance.…”

Established and emerging fields of workers’ struggles in the care sector: the case of Poland

“…It combines material from different research projects conducted by both authors and using different methodologies, all circulating around the interconnections between care, employment and protests. Some of the research material has already been analysed in publications on the militancy of the nurses and midwives' trade union (Kubisa, 2014(Kubisa, , 2016, an initial comparative analysis of opportunities for collective organising in care work as exemplified by nurses and nursery workers (Kubisa, 2021) and an initial discussion on the significance of industrial action in the protests of carers tending persons with disabilities (Kubisa and Rakowska, 2018). The research material on nurses, midwives and nursery workers has been expanded by further interviews and a collection of secondary data, not analysed before, along with new material on teachers and caregivers for the elderly.…”

“…The scientific analysis of industrial action in the care sector as a significant new feature of contemporary industrial relations usually focuses on organised workers, as seen in research on the militancy of nurses (Briskin, 2013;Kubisa, 2016, Gafni-Lachter et al, 2017, strikes in a private care company (Rogalewski, 2018), and teacher strikes against austerity policies (Uetricht, 2014).…”

Applauded ‘nightingales’ voicing discontent. Exploring labour unrest in health and social care in Europe before and since the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Several care professions are gendered. Nursing, for instance, has historically been womenoriented, based upon underlying patriarchal or religious values concerning care, intermingling the gender role with the occupational one (Kubisa, 2016). There are no intrinsic reasons to believe that women are less likely to resort to the strike weapon, however.…”

“…General empathy for the dedication of care workers also opens the way to mobilisation of public support for their demands and coalition-building with community and progressive movements (Briskin, 2011;Szabó, 2020). There is nevertheless the danger that the media will focus only on the 'emotional relations' between care workers and recipients, so that their bargaining agenda becomes largely marginalised, especially if interpreted within a framework of stereotypical femininity (Kubisa, 2016).…”