ABSTRACT

In this chapter we explore early precarious workers’ mobilizations in two southern European countries, Italy and Greece, so as to detail how marginalized categories of workers engage in protest.3 In doing so, we show how innovative forms of workers’ participation have emerged in recent years outside the realm of traditional labor organizations. Overall, the study of precarious workers’ protests facilitates the understanding of the struggles that preceded-and to some extent foresaw-the social discontent of the current economic crisis. Indeed, precarious workers’ struggles played a key role in both countries from the late 1990s to the early 2010s. In Italy, the national demonstration of precarious workers, the Mayday Parade, which first took place in 2001, expanded to the point of attracting some 100,000 participants in 2004 when it changed its name to the Euro Mayday Parade. By 2006, the Mayday Parade had become a transnational European day of protest. In the same period, protests emerged across Italy concentrating on local and national issues and involving precarious workers. From 2004 to 2006, when the cycle of contention reached its peak, dozens of grassroots collectives focusing on precarity flourished in Italy, many of which are still active today. In Greece, a number of grassroots labor

organizations, populated by precarious workers, sprang up during the 2000s. Due to their strong solidarity and spirit of collaboration as well as latter attempts at cross-sectorial coordination, these grassroots labor organizations managed to stage numerous and successful labor-related campaigns. Moreover, they became key players in the ongoing anti-austerity struggle and mobilized thousands of protesters in general strikes.