IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ecoind/v44y2023i1p68-87.html

Winning a battle against the odds: A cleaners’ campaign

Author

Listed:
  • Elisa Pannini

    (London School of Economics and Political Science, UK)

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

  • Elisa Pannini, 2023. "Winning a battle against the odds: A cleaners’ campaign," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 44(1), pages 68-87, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:44:y:2023:i:1:p:68-87
    DOI: 10.1177/0143831X211060390
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0143831X211060390
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0143831X211060390?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Adam Rogalewski, 2018. "Organising and mobilising Central and Eastern European migrant women working in care. A case study of a successful care workers’ strike in Switzerland in 2014," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 24(4), pages 421-436, November.
    2. Miguel Martínez Lucio & Stefania Marino & Heather Connolly, 2017. "Organising as a strategy to reach precarious and marginalised workers. A review of debates on the role of the political dimension and the dilemmas of representation and solidarity," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 23(1), pages 31-46, February.
    3. Maite Tapia & Gabriella Alberti, 2019. "Unpacking the Category of Migrant Workers in Trade Union Research: A Multi-Level Approach to Migrant Intersectionalities," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 33(2), pages 314-325, April.
    4. Melanie Simms & Deborah Dean, 2015. "Mobilising contingent workers: An analysis of two successful cases," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 36(1), pages 173-190, February.
    5. 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.
    6. Gregor Murray, 2017. "Union renewal: what can we learn from three decades of research?," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 23(1), pages 9-29, February.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. Peter Haynes & Jack Vowles & Peter Boxall, 2005. "Explaining the Younger– Older Worker Union Density Gap: Evidence from New Zealand," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 43(1), pages 93-116, March.
    3. Verna Alcalde‐González & Ana Gálvez‐Mozo & Alan Valenzuela‐Bustos, 2024. "Social movement unionism in Spain's feminized precarious service sector: Criticism, cooperation and competition," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 62(1), pages 154-173, March.
    4. Andrea Borello, 2025. "Structural Unfairness or Disrespect and Misrecognition? Theorising the Pathway Between Feelings of Injustice and Collective Mobilisation Among Precarious Migrant Workers," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 63(3), pages 413-426, September.
    5. Philip James & Joanna Karmowska, 2016. "British union renewal: does salvation really lie beyond the workplace?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 102-116, March.
    6. Grégory Jemine, 2023. "It takes two to tango: Reconceptualizing union power and union effectiveness in a relational perspective," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(6), pages 445-470, November.
    7. Marco Marrone & Paolo Borghi, 2023. "Ai margini del sindacato, il sindacato nei margini: democratizzazione, demercificazione e disinquinamento tra alleanze possibili e nuove pratiche," ECONOMIA E SOCIET? REGIONALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2023(3), pages 35-52.
    8. Andrea Bellini & Marco Betti & Alberto Gherardini & Francesco Lauria, 2023. "Collectivising services: a path to trade union renewal in Europe," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(4), pages 457-473, November.
    9. Lilian Miles & Tim Freeman & Amanda Polzin & Rishab Reitz & Richard Croucher, 2024. "Migrant workers navigating the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK: Resilience, reworking and resistance," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 45(3), pages 653-673, August.
    10. Amanda Pyman & Peter Holland & Julian Teicher & Brian K. Cooper, 2010. "Industrial Relations Climate, Employee Voice and Managerial Attitudes to Unions: An Australian Study," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(2), pages 460-480, June.
    11. Rebecca Bednarek & Stephen Blumenfeld & Sally Riad, 2012. "Union-division: on the paradoxes of purpose and membership scope in union mergers," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(6), pages 548-571, November.
    12. Davide Però & John Downey, 2024. "Advancing Workers’ Rights in the Gig Economy through Discursive Power: The Communicative Strategies of Indie Unions," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(1), pages 140-160, February.
    13. Cedric Dawkins, 2010. "Beyond Wages and Working Conditions: A Conceptualization of Labor Union Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 95(1), pages 129-143, August.
    14. Gregor Murray & Christian Lévesque & Christian Dufour & Adelheid Hege, 2013. "Special Issue. Edited by: Gregor Murray, Christian Lévesque, Christian Dufour and Adelheid Hege," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(4), pages 340-354, July.
    15. A Charlwood, 2003. "The Anatomy of Union Decline in Britain: 1990-1998," CEP Discussion Papers dp0601, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    16. Adam Rogalewski, 2022. "Trade unions challenges in organising Polish workers: A comparative case study of British and Swiss trade union strategies," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 28(4), pages 385-404, December.
    17. William Brown & Simon Deakin & David Nash & Sarah Oxenbridge, 2000. "The Employment Contract: From Collective Procedures to Individual Rights," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 38(4), pages 611-629, December.
    18. Richardson, Jane C. & Ong, Bie Nio & Sim, Julius, 2006. "Is chronic widespread pain biographically disruptive?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 1573-1585, September.
    19. Martin B. Carstensen & Christian Lyhne Ibsen & Vivien A. Schmidt, 2022. "Ideas and power in employment relations studies," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 3-21, January.
    20. Ian Clark & James Hunter & Richard Pickford & Huw Fearnall-Williams, 2022. "How do licensing regimes limit worker interests? Evidence from informal employment in Britain," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(1), pages 431-449, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:44:y:2023:i:1:p:68-87. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ekhist.uu.se/english.htm .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.