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

‘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...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Las Heras Cuenca, Jon, Rodríguez Algans, Lluis
Format: article
Publication Date:2020
Country:España
Institution:Universidad del País Vasco
Repository:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/77996
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/77996
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:strike fund
union renewal
strikes
Basque unions
counterpower
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spelling Striking to Renew: Basque Unions’ Organizing Strategies and Use of the Strike‐FundLas Heras Cuenca, JonRodríguez Algans, Lluisstrike fundunion renewalstrikesBasque unionscounterpower‘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.Wiley202620262020info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10810/77996reponame:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigacióninstname:Universidad del País VascoIngléshttps://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12582info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/779962026-06-18T09:23:17Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Striking to Renew: Basque Unions’ Organizing Strategies and Use of the Strike‐Fund
title Striking to Renew: Basque Unions’ Organizing Strategies and Use of the Strike‐Fund
spellingShingle Striking to Renew: Basque Unions’ Organizing Strategies and Use of the Strike‐Fund
Las Heras Cuenca, Jon
strike fund
union renewal
strikes
Basque unions
counterpower
title_short Striking to Renew: Basque Unions’ Organizing Strategies and Use of the Strike‐Fund
title_full Striking to Renew: Basque Unions’ Organizing Strategies and Use of the Strike‐Fund
title_fullStr Striking to Renew: Basque Unions’ Organizing Strategies and Use of the Strike‐Fund
title_full_unstemmed Striking to Renew: Basque Unions’ Organizing Strategies and Use of the Strike‐Fund
title_sort Striking to Renew: Basque Unions’ Organizing Strategies and Use of the Strike‐Fund
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Las Heras Cuenca, Jon
Rodríguez Algans, Lluis
author Las Heras Cuenca, Jon
author_facet Las Heras Cuenca, Jon
Rodríguez Algans, Lluis
author_role author
author2 Rodríguez Algans, Lluis
author2_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv strike fund
union renewal
strikes
Basque unions
counterpower
topic strike fund
union renewal
strikes
Basque unions
counterpower
description ‘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.
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020
2026
2026
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10810/77996
url http://hdl.handle.net/10810/77996
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12582
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
instname:Universidad del País Vasco
instname_str Universidad del País Vasco
reponame_str Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
collection Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,81155

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