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Winning a battle against the odds: a cleaners’ campaign

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  • Pannini, Elisa

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Pannini, Elisa, 2023. "Winning a battle against the odds: a cleaners’ campaign," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112569, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:112569
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/112569/
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jeremy Waddington & Allan Kerr, 2009. "Transforming a Trade Union? An Assessment of the Introduction of an Organizing Initiative," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(1), pages 27-54, March.
    2. Gabriella Alberti & Davide Però, 2018. "Migrating Industrial Relations: Migrant Workers’ Initiative Within and Outside Trade Unions," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 56(4), pages 693-715, December.
    3. Riessman, Catherine Kohler, 1990. "Strategic uses of narrative in the presentation of self and illness: A research note," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 1195-1200, January.
    4. Jeremy Waddington & Colin Whitston, 1997. "Why Do People Join Unions in a Period of Membership Decline?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 515-546, December.
    5. Peter Boxall & Peter Haynes, 1997. "Strategy and Trade Union Effectiveness in a Neo-liberal Environment," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 567-591, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    cleaners; mobilization; power resources; precarious workers; trade unions; union organizing; Sage;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

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