Towards an ecological transition from below: insights from a workers' mobilization in the automotive sector

Abstract

This article aims to shed light on the processes and conditions that enable workers to maintain employment stability and wage security while reorganizing production to effectively address the ongoing climate crisis. By thoroughly analysing a case of workers' mobilization within the automotive sector at the GKN plant in Campi Bisenzio (Florence—Italy), we underline the conditions under which workers may support a transformative ecological transition. Their campaign has rapidly become emblematic of a national movement that integrates social and environmental concerns. Through qualitative analysis of social media content, self-produced documents, and in-depth interviews, we illustrate how these workers, by stepping into a gap left by both the state and the market, have advocated for a credible and radical bottom-up transition plan. This plan challenges the power imbalances within the production system and positions workers and the local community as key stakeholders in plant management, as well as guardians of the local territory and its environment. Their organizational model and identity, strategic alliances, and the specific territorial context in which they operate are conducive to this endeavour.