Striking to Renew: Basque Unions’ Organizing Strategies and Use of the Strike‐Fund

Abstract

There is no union renewal without striking' has been the underlying logic driving collective bargaining and union renewal dynamics in the Basque Country. This article shows how the Basque sovereigntist unions ELA (Euskal Langileen Alkartasuna) and LAB (Langile Abertzaleen Batzordeak) have formed a 'counterpower' bloc, in opposition to CCOO (Comisiones Obreras) and UGT (Union General de Trabajadores) that are more prone to engage into social dialogue. The formers' renewal strategy based on organizing workers 'deeply' -especially with ELA's recurrent use of a strike-fund that fosters membership participation and affiliation through confederal solidarity -has altered union politics in the Basque Country. This has produced very high strike rates since the 2000s, perhaps the highest in Europe, and a 'spill over' effect that polarizes union alliances substantially. The article brings out the question of how unions could possibly locate industrial conflict within their renewal strategies and transform their organizations accordingly. Methodologically, the article contributes to the literature on strikes by underlining the importance of studying strikes critically, as a conscious collective process, in order to understand that their uneven development also derives from concrete unions' strategies.

Retooling militancy: Labour revitalization and fixed‐duration strikes

“…Rather than solely investigating the causes of strikes, recent scholarship has emphasized the relationship between militancy and union renewal (Las Heras and Rodríguez, 2021). Between 2007 and 2013, more workers joined the British Public and Commercial Services Union during months of strikes, finding that militancy positively impacts organizing outcomes (Hodder et al., 2017).…”

“…Instead of relying on national institutions or, where applicable, social dialogue, certain unions have expressed an organizational commitment to militant tactics to mobilize their membership (Krachler, Auffenberg, and Wolf, 2021). This strategy depends on investments in organizing for strike preparedness (McAlevey, 2016; Las Heras and Rodríguez, 2021). Beyond leverage in contract negotiations, strikes in the United States have mobilized public and political pressure to advance a range of demands.…”

“…I make two contributions to the field. First, I contribute to work that emphasizes organizational factors in the adoption of militancy and strikes as sources of union renewal (Kelly, 1998; Krachler et al., 2021; Las Heras and Rodríguez, 2021). Building on prior literature, I demonstrate how radical union leaders invest in strike preparation and build more militant organizations (Darlington, 2009; McAlevey, 2016).…”

Between Settlement and Mobilization: Political Logics of Intra-Organizational Union Communication on Social Media

“…Previous studies such as Panagiotopoulos (2012), Hodder and Houghton (2015), Panagiotopoulos and Barnett (2015), Upchurch and Grassman (2016), Wood (2015Wood ( , 2020 or Houghton and Hodder (2021) show the importance of trade unions gaining knowledge about social media to adapt their communication strategies to a new digital reality. Nevertheless, the significance of social media for the inner workings of so-called 'social dialogue unions' (Las Heras and Rodríguez, 2021) in their classic labour market role during collective bargaining remains a blank spot in studies of the relationship between employers and employees in the world of work.…”

¿Aliados naturales? Sindicatos, movimientos sociales y tercer sector durante la crisis económica de 2008 en España

“…CLAVES ECONLIT: J51, J52, J580, N340. Numerous studies have shown that factors such as deindustrialisation policies, the transformation of the class structure, technological change, the rise of individualistic values or the introduction of flexible and managerialist forms of work organisation have reduced the capacity of trade unions to act in defence of the interests of the working class, a class that is fragmented and therefore difficult to organise (Silver, 2005;García Calavia and Rigby, 2018;Las Heras and Rodríguez, 2021).…”