Open AccessWinning a battle against the odds: A cleaners’ campaign
Author(s) -
Elisa Pannini
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
economic and industrial democracy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1461-7099
pISSN - 0143-831X
DOI - 10.1177/0143831x211060390
Subject(s) - battle , outsourcing , mobilization , collective action , public relations , power (physics) , political science , collective bargaining , core (optical fiber) , public administration , business , law , engineering , politics , physics , archaeology , quantum mechanics , history , telecommunications
This article analyses a campaign urging a British university to re-establish in-house cleaning services after years of outsourcing. The small independent union leading the campaign began from an extremely low level of power resources and managed to build enough associational and societal power to win the dispute on cleaners’ working conditions. The study is based on participant observation of the union’s activities, document analysis and interviews. The article argues that the strategy emerging from the study, centred around three key strategies (collectivization of individual grievances, education, and disruption of core business activities), can be articulated in a process following the main categories of Mobilization Theory: organization, mobilization and collective action. Additionally, the union managed to conciliate servicing and organizing strategies, as well as attention to class-oriented and migrant-specific issues.