Introduction

How do trade unions and allied organizations develop and implement strategy? How have the processes of globalization affected these developments? What, if any, new collective strategies of struggle appear to be emerging in response to these changes? Making initial inroads in to these key questions is the central concern of this book, and a key task of the global labour movement in the wake of several decades of setbacks and defeats. Our book begins from the central premise that progressive social change requires collective struggle that is underpinned by a clear and well-informed strategy, and that processes of neoliberal globalization have altered the cartography upon which social struggle takes place, thereby necessitating a strategic re-evaluation and reflection. While there has been a great deal of recent research on the role of knowl-

edge in improving the productivity and efficiency of capitalist states and powerful corporations, little has been written on the role of knowledge within social movements, and even less on workers’ organizations. Drawing on insights from the knowledge-production processes of unions and related organizations from different parts of the world, this book attempts to address that deficit, and to highlight the central importance of knowledge production and processes of learning as they relate to strategy development within labour movements. In doing so, we seek to provide both a comprehensive theoretical and empirical introduction to the literature on the relationship between globalization, knowledge and labour-related social movement strategy. We present a wide range of case studies that highlight the centrality of knowledge production and circulation processes to the potential expansion and revitalization of the role of labour movements in the promotion of alternative development imaginaries. We believe that the production and dissemination of alternative knowledge

is central to a resurgence of working-class power and has significant implications for relations between state and civil society, particularly in relation to issues such as public welfare and control over public resources. Worker education – broadly defined – in its myriad of different forms and through different organizational settings, is an indispensable part of the effort of counterhegemonic labour movements to defend and extend workers’ rights. Through

a series of in-depth case studies from around the globe, this book illustrates the importance of knowledge for raising the political consciousness of workers and their allies in the fight for social and economic justice and promoting alternative systems of production. The book takes a broad view of labour struggles and does not limit itself to

victories but examines particular cases in which long-term, sustained efforts have made a difference to workers’ lives, either in an improvement of their conditions of employment or in the development of their leadership capabilities. The book also promotes a wider view of the ‘labour movement’ as consisting not only of traditional trade unions but also community-based workers’ centres and organizations that support workers’ rights (and unemployed workers) in environments hostile to unionization. By evaluating the effects of radical pedagogies deployed in worker education, and by adopting a broad definition of what constitutes ‘labour education’, the book highlights the creative and courageous ways in which the seeds of revolt are sown among ‘disposable’ workers, who are compelled to slog for a living in an economy that offers them little choice. When we began the book, we set ourselves some ambitious objectives. We

wanted to contribute to theoretical debates on the role of knowledge in labour movements, a field that has had scant attention, particularly in the English language. Furthermore, we wanted to link this with the aim of further understanding the relationship between the processes of education and learning within labour and social movements and strategy development in labour struggles. While for those interested in working-class power this is a timeless objective, we felt it necessary to ground this in an understanding of its relationship to processes of globalization that we trace from the transformation of capitalism that began in the late 1970s. In particular, we wanted to explore how workers’ organizations and allied community-based organizations were responding to the increasingly globalized and multi-scalar nature of both capitalist production relations and the governance of the social, political and economic order through organizations such as the IMF, World Bank, WTO and the European Union. As the scales upon which decisions were being made appeared to be shifting both upwards (to the supranational) and downwards (to non-state actors and sub-national units), we sought to understand how and in what ways that informed labour movement strategy and action. Related to this we also wanted to explore the variety of these shifts in strategy and organizational forms to see both the diversity and the commonality in this process. Finally, we wanted to situate these labour-related struggles within the broader global movement for social justice (often misnamed as the anti-globalization movement), to provide insights and inspiration for new ways of thinking about labour, learning and strategy development in the new millennium. The seeds for the idea of this book were planted when we, the editors, met

during a conference on labour movements in Sheffield back in 2003. At that time, we were both finalizing our doctoral studies. Anibel Ferus-Comelo’s

research had explored the strategies of workers in the electronics industry in both Bangalore, India and in Silicon Valley, USA, while Mario Novelli had researched the anti-privatization struggles of Colombian public sector workers and their supporters. Both of us were trying to grasp the complexity of linking some of the effects of the broad macro-and meso-structural changes taking place in the restructuring of global capitalism with the more microstrategies of working class organizations tasked with defending their members’ interests. How was it that some movements appeared to be able to grasp these complex challenges and develop innovative strategies? How did these strategies emerge, under what conditions and with what outcomes? Why was it that many of the most innovative initiatives and strategies appeared to come from the margins of the ‘official’ labour movement? We hope to shed some light on these questions through the case studies in this book. The other contributors to this volume were selected on the basis of both

their high quality, innovative, in-depth and politically committed research with particular labour movement/organizations and the geographical focus of their research. We have attempted to pay special attention to organizations and places that typically fall off the map of the international labour movement. However, this proved to be more of a challenge than we anticipated. While the book does not claim to be ‘global’ in its scope, we do have cases from North and South America, Europe and Asia. Each contributor was asked to produce a new piece of work that addressed the following: the ways in which their particular movement produces, disseminates and utilizes knowledge to inform strategy; the insights that could be drawn from that movement; and the new knowledge their particular case may offer other workers in different geographical and political contexts. We will return to these case study chapters below as we explain the layout of the book. In our interest to contextualize the emergence of the myriad of research

questions outlined above, we follow this broad introduction with three further chapters. The first explores the relationship between globalization, neoliberalism and the ways in which workers and labour movements have been affected. The second critically reviews contemporary analyses of the new geographies and politics of labour movement strategies. The third then links this to a critical reconceptualization of labour education, which then leads to the presentation of a framework for both conceptualizing and analysing knowledge production in labour movements. In particular, we focus on strategy development in labour movements and its implications for labour educators and activists responsible for developing the next generation of working class leaders. We then move on to the detailed case studies, which provide the empirical

basis for much of the argument of our book. We begin in Chapter 4 with Novelli’s detailed case study of SINTRAEMCALI, a public sector union that organizes workers who deliver water, electricity and telecommunications in Colombia’s second city of Cali and their successful struggles against privatization. In Chapter 5, Verger and Novelli explore the global strategies of Education

International, the federation of teachers unions, and its struggle against the commercialization and commodification of education through the attempted inclusion of education in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). In Chapter 6, we begin the first of three chapters exploring issues of gender and labour movements with Anibel Ferus-Comelo’s reflections on the organizational strategies of women workers in the electronics industry in Bangalore and Silicon Valley. In Chapter 7, we then move on to Beerepoot and HernándezAgramonte’s exploration of social movement unionism and learning among women garment workers in the Philippines. In Chapter 8, we explore the ‘everyday forms of resistance’ of South Asian immigrant self-employed workers in Canada as they face both racial and gendered obstacles to dignified employment in both the labour market and the home. In Chapter 9, we shift the focus to the unemployed working class with a thoughtful chapter by Andrew Mathers on learning and strategy development within the movement of European Marches Against Unemployment. In Chapter 10, Andy Higginbottom looks at the role of Public Opinion Tribunals, as instruments of both popular education and popular justice to address crimes against humanity in Colombia. In doing so, he raises key definitional issues on human rights and labour struggles in the South and their relationship to social movements in the North. In Chapter 11, Raúl Añorve tells the story of the Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA) that works alongside immigrant workers in their struggles for dignity and human rights in Los Angeles. Finally, in Chapter 12, Creating the Space for Optimism through Popular Education, we conclude the book with a broad synthesis of the cases in order to draw out insights that are useful to critical theorists interested in knowledge production within labour movements, while also contributing to ongoing debates within the global labour movement to raise important questions regarding the evolving perception and demands of civil society vis-à-vis contemporary forms of global capitalism. Our hope is that this book will serve as a starting point for critical reflection

on the role of knowledge, learning and strategy development in labour movements; will lead to more comprehensive research and case studies of different movements; and will spark a debate within the global labour movement on the importance of taking knowledge development strategies seriously.