ABSTRACT
The tendency of capitalists to take advantage of workers rendered vulnerable by their subordinated identities is pronounced in the globalizing period. Workforces have become even more heterogeneous as globalization draws into waged labour people previously engaged in other forms of production, such as farming or unpaid domestic labour and encourages migration within and between nations. The benefits for capitalists of workforce fragmentation are multiplied if, in addition to greater amounts of surplus value extracted from vulnerable labour, work-forces are hampered in presenting collectivist responses by virtue of such internal divisions. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) resolved to lobby governments 'to recognize acquired skills, educational knowledge and accreditation of immigrants, upon their arrival, to foster their immediate inclusion into the workforce'. Autonomism understands new social movements as an aspect of struggle against capitalism rather than as evidence of the death or demise of class. Marginalized workers themselves often prompt greater inclusivity on the part of unions.
