Labor Unbound? Assessing the Current Surge in Labor Activism

Abstract

Where will the current surge of labor activism lead? To address this question we examine two distinctive currents of labor struggle—one rooted in “new economy” firms and a second in the nation's logistics sector—where post-pandemic conditions have confronted workers with important opportunities and challenges. If the workers’ movement is to make enduring gains, it will need to foster organizational alliances that stretch across distinct sectors of the economy, build support among consumers and the broader public, and challenge culture war rhetoric through appeal to workers’ shared needs.

Crisis and Utopia: André Gorz and the end of work

“…And so it is that observers point to a ‘surge in labour activism’ (Vallas and Johnston, 2023). Aside from the ongoing waves of strikes in the USA and Europe involving the tattered fabric of the core labour force (educators, transport workers, healthcare workers, lawyers), we find Starbucks coffee servers fighting to unionise (Vallas and Johnston, 2023), and food delivery workers around the world forging new bonds of solidarity (Tassinari and Maccarrone, 2020) whilst engaging in more-or-less familiar types of labour activism (see for instance Bansal, 2023; Butler and Jolly, 2021 for recent examples).…”