May 26, 2022, by lizgc1

Evidence: The Role of Precarious Migrant Workers in Union Organising

An ethnographic study at the University of Nottingham on the resistance, solidarity and empowerment of precarious migrant workers organising in the Italian logistics sector

Summary

The International Labour Organization estimates that migrant workers in Italy are paid 30% less than native workers and experience multiple forms of injustice (ILO, 2018; 2020). These injustices include the Italian immigration policy that links residence permits to work contracts as well as social and geographical marginalisation, negative

stereotyping and limited social and cultural support (e.g., housing, schooling) within the mainstream Italian society (Basso, 2007). This research explored how precarious migrant workers can organise collectively at work and identified the collective practices and solidarity processes that make the efforts of these workers empowering and successful. It showed that the development of a lingua franca among union members encouraged the emergence of other union collective practices (e.g., worker assemblies and collective actions) and facilitated worker engagement and self-organisation. Additionally, it pointed to the relevance of articulating both mechanical and organic solidarity processes that involve diverse and multiple allies. Recommendations for labour organisations include considering how worker views and experiences can be valued and deeply involved in the organising process.

Background

The organisation of precarious migrant workers is key to bringing social justice in those sectors (e.g., cleaning, logistics – particularly, warehouse and parcel delivery services) that exhibit poor and unfair working conditions. Yet, the extant literature on worker mobilisations tends to focus on the responses and strategies embraced by labour organisations (e.g., McAlevey, 2016) rather than the initiatives and views of the workers involved in these initiatives. While significant to understanding trade union activities, these studies remain ethnocentric and offer only a partial account of union organising. To develop a comprehensive and less ethnocentric understanding of union organising, this research was grounded in the perspectives and experiences of precarious migrant workers.

Key findings

This research included 80 participants, of which 57 were first-generation migrant workers coming from South Asia, Africa, South America, and East Europe. Rather than being trade unions reaching out to migrant workers, most of these workers had framed informal cultures of resistance and contacted trade unions accordingly. However, after feeling disappointed by the limited attention, impact and bureaucratic attitudes of mainstream unions, they sought support from S.I. Cobas – an Italian independent, grassroots, and militant labour organisation whose acronym stands for Inter-branch union of the committee of the base unions. It was founded in 2010 as a direct outcome of the struggles of logistics warehouse workers based in the North and Central regions of Italy but linked to the long-standing Italian tradition of bottom-up organising dating back to the Seventies (Massarelli, 2015).

The bottom-up approach of this union reflected its practices, which centre on migrant worker participation and subjectivities. Here union members developed a socially embedded lingua franca that made possible other union practices (e.g., worker assemblies and collective actions), ensuring active worker engagement in their own terms. Moreover, these collective practices led to an articulation of mechanical and organic solidarity processes unfolding at different levels of union engagement. That is, migrant workers not only organised collectively at the workplace, but also their struggles were joined by other actors, including political allies and fellow migrant workers.

Since then, these workers have achieved material and subjective gains. For example, recognising a regular work contract has granted workers basic rights such as breaks, on-the-job injuries, annual and sick leaves. This contract has also legally empowered migrant workers: they could secure the right to stay in Italy and provided the Immigration Office with the income levels required to reunite their families. Moreover, S.I. Cobas and A.D.L Cobas have obtained the stipulation of the Fedit Agreement with major logistics companies, which, among other improvements, compel employers to rehire workers when contractors change (S.I. Cobas, 2017). In addition to migrant-tailored workplace demands (e.g., shower stalls), migrant workers have achieved subjective gains such as a sense of belonging as well as self-worth, personal growth and confidence. They reclaimed derogatory terms and developed combative identities to claim workplace rights and broader social change. That is, the success of the initiatives of S.I. Cobas migrant workers has been ensured through a deep and transformative organising approach centred on active worker participation.

Implications for Labour Organisations

Exploring union organising from the views and experiences of migrant workers shifts the discussion from union strategies and responses to the collective initiatives co-developed by these workers. The steady decline in union membership calls for renewing trade unions (Gumbrell-McCormick and Hyman, 2013) and identifying an effective organising approach that can meet the urgent and precarious conditions of migrant workers. The case of S.I. Cobas shows that effectiveness can be achieved through a serious commitment to organising migrant workers on behalf of labour organisations. This commitment requires an imaginative leap away from a view of migrant workers as unable to identify their real interests and in need of being enlightened by union officers. In practice, it calls for considering how worker views and experiences can be valued and involved within labour organisations and thinking of union organising as a deep and transformative process that leads to empowerment whereby workers – not unions only – succeed and ‘renew’ themselves.

Contact the Researcher

Dr Gabriella Cioce

ESRC Post-Doctoral Fellow

Email: gabriella.cioce2@nottingham.ac.uk

Cited literature

Basso P. (2007) ‘Trade union responses to racism in Italy’s shipbuilding and metalworking industries’. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 13 (3): 431-446.

Gumbrell-McCormick R. and Hyman R. (2013) Trade Unions in Western Europe, Hard Times, Hard Choices. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

ILO (2018) New ILO figures show 164 million people are migrant workers. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_652106/lang–en/index.htm [Acessed 12/02/2021]

ILO (2020) Migrant pay gap widens in many high-income countries. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_763763/lang–en/index.htm [Acessed 12/02/2021].

Massarelli F. (2015) Scarichiamo i padroni: lo sciopero dei facchini a Bologna. Milano, AgenziaX.

McAlevey J (2016) No Shortcuts: Organising for Power in the New Gilded Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

S.I. Cobas (2017) Carne da Macello. Roma: Red Star Press.

 

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