The ‘indie unions’ and the UK labour movement: Towards a community of practice

Abstract

This article draws on the concept of communities of practice (COP) in order to illuminate the phenomenon of ‘indie unions’ and their contribution to the UK labour movement. These unions are typically regarded as distinct from, and perhaps in opposition to, existing labour movement institutions, and thus exempt from consideration in debates about union renewal. The argument offered here aims to show that by conceptualising the UK labour movement as COP, and the indie unions as community members, they can be considered key actors in union renewal. Through case studies of different union campaigns in the outsourced cleaning sector, this article demonstrates how the indie unions’ strategies are being learned and practised by the established unions, thus situating them as an intrinsic part of a stratified yet solidaristic labour movement with the potential for renewal.

With or without U(nions)? Understanding the diversity of gig workers’ organizing practices in Italy and the UK

“…These include the adoption of oppositional discourses emphasizing precarious workers’ identity as unrepresented constituencies (Borghi et al, 2021: 11) and placing attention on their specificities (Però, 2019: 907); the building of horizontal networks of collaboration with self-organized groups of workers and other activist and community groups, avoiding a logic of top-down incorporation in pre-existing union structures (Borghi et al, 2021: 14); the adoption of participatory practices and the encouragement of members active involvement in negotiations, following a ‘logic of membership’ (Offe and Wiesenthal, 1985) in contrast with ‘traditional’ unions practices of bureaucratic representation; and the adoption of agile and speedy forms of industrial action (Però, 2019). The successes of ’new’ IR actors in mobilizing precarious workers have also served, over time, as an example to established unions to innovate their practices vis-à-vis these constituencies, often fostering positive complementarities between ‘new’ and ‘old’ labour actors (Bondy, 2021; Hyman and Gumbrell-McCormick, 2017; Smith, 2021).…”

The tail that wags the dog: lessons from the UK's independent unions for class struggle trade unionism

“…The rise of these new, independent trade unions has attracted increasing scholarly attention. Several studies examining at the successful organisation of low-paid migrant workers within independent unions in the UK have started to address a gap in the literature that has hitherto overlooked the grassroot worker initiatives outside of established trade unions (see Kirkpatrick, 2014; Moyer-Lee and Lopez, 2017; Shenker, 2019; Pero, 2020; Hardy, 2021; Gall, 2020; Cant and Woodcook, 2020; Pannini, 2021; Weghmann, 2022; Smith, 2022; Petrini and Wettergren, 2022). Understanding workers’ experiences in these new trade unions have global significance in terms of understanding the emerging phenomenon of organising outside of the traditional structures of established trade unions (Ness, 2014; Rizzo and Atzeni, 2020; Webster et al.…”

“…Instead, we need to look at the lessons that can be learnt from independent trade unions for the wider trade union movement (Weghmann, 2022). Smith (2022Smith ( , p. 1384 argues:…”

A global analysis of worker protest in digital labour platforms

“…Numerous studies have noted differences in the organizing approaches adopted by newer unions and by more established unions (Cini and Goldman 2020;Doherty and Franca 2020;Vandaele 2018). Moreover, there is already evidence of the diffusion of methods between newer unions and more established unions -in both directions -in emergent "communities of practice" (Smith 2021; see also Però 2019). Consequently, despite difficulties in drawing sharp distinctions, the widely recognized presence of "non-standard" unions in platform work alongside more established unions suggests that an effort to capture this new development is warranted.…”