This study examines solidarity and fragmentations between trade unions and civil society organisations under the Labour and Civil Society Coalition LASCO, during the fuel subsidy mass-protest in Nigeria. To understand the basis of LASCO’s mobilisation during the strike/ mass-protest and the tension that follows the suspension of the strike within the alliance, the study utilises the literature on Social Movement Unionism especially in South Africa, with emphasise on trade unions community and political alliances. The classical SMU literature especially applied in South Africa and Brazil revealed that authoritarian industrialisation and repressive Apartheid work-place regime prompted unions to use innovative strategies of using their bargaining power to challenge the state, by rendering themselves ungovernable both in the work-place and in the society through linkages with communities. This study, relying on a case study method and participant observation of the strike and mass-protest in Kano, revealed that SMU mobilisation in Nigeria was triggered by predatory and weak state, whose rent seeking permeates the administration of subsidy in the oil industry. Secondly, the study argued that the tensions and divisions within LASCO alliance following the suspension of the perceived unilateral suspension of the strike by the Trade Unions explains the political and class orientation of both trade unions and civil society organisations. The study argues that Trade Unions behaviour in the context of the strike lean towards Hyman pessimist view of trade unions or what Beiler et’al called accommodatory strategy, a view that see unions as negotiators of order both in the work-place and in the larger society. On the other hand the civil society organisations typified multi-level organisations with different orientations that always seek for transformation of the social order or what Beiler et’al called transformatory strategy.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This study investigates workers’ perceptions of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) practices on elections and living wage issues from a social movement perspective from the Apartheid (South Africa) and Unilateral Declaration of Independence (Zimbabwe) eras to 2009. The trade union social movement perspective refers to labour movements that develop a socio-political character, and concern themselves not only with workplace issues but with broad social and political issues. A study of COSATU and ZCTU practices in South Africa and Zimbabwe at this time in the field of social movements is consistent with current calls for a conceptual shift, away from looking for invariant causes and effects to looking for mechanisms and processes that occur in many different kinds of movements and that lead to different outcomes depending on the specific contexts within which they occur. The study draws insights from social movement unionsm theory to understand mechanisms and processes pursued by COSATU and ZCTU in seeking to influence policy outcomes. This study used a qualitative approach and a case study strategy. In the study, questionnaire and in-depth interview responses were drawn from COSATU secretariat, two affiliates, the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) and National Union of Mine Workers (NUM). Questionnaire and in-depth responses were also drawn from the ZCTU secretariat, two affiliates, the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GPWUZ) and the Zimbabwe Urban Municipal Workers Union (ZUMWU). The objective was to gain insights from a broad cross-section of union members – blue-collar workers, professionals, state or semi state institution workers and ordinarily low income farm workers. The study concludes that workers’ perceptions of the two labour social movements is that they can influence changes in the political system (through elections) as a means to securing living wages by engaging in five practices, namely, disruption mechanisms, public preference mechanisms, political access mechanisms, judicial mechanisms and international access mechanisms. However, while the study noted that workers perceive COSATU and ZCTU practices as essential in influencing elections and living wage issues, the popularity of the mechanisms was lower in Zimbabwe where workers often face persecution. In South Africa, utilisation of these practices is also affected by the less militant public sector affiliates and non- standard forms of work such as subcontracting, casualisation, informalisation, externalisation and the ballooning informal sector. Given these problems, social movement trade unionism remains a viable means of representing the interests of the working poor. Establishment of these challenges leads to areas of possible further research such as how the unions can effectively represent the unorganised workers of the informal sector. A broader research on the impact of the exponential growth of non-standard forms of work is also relevant at this time in the two countries.

Este projeto insere-se no campo da sociologia do trabalho, procurando contribuir com a discussão acerca do presente e do futuro do sindicalismo, conectado aos estudos de revitalização sindical. O sindicalismo no setor público, particularmente após o final da década de 1980, desenvolve-se através da assunção de caráter sindical das associações de servidores públicos, da influência do novo sindicalismo sobre as classes médias e do ambiente político das lutas pela democratização do Brasil pós-ditadura. Assim formou-se Sindicato dos Municipários de Porto Alegre (SIMPA), objeto empírico do presente trabalho, o primeiro sindicato de municipários legalizado no Brasil. As temáticas em torno das reformas e da persistência da estrutura sindical, em um contexto de terceirizações na administração pública, assim como a consideração por boa parte da literatura de que o movimento sindical passa por uma crise instiga à investigação das ações sindicais confrontadas à discussão da suposta crise ou declínio. Através de um estudo de caso estendido, analisamos a emergência de novas práticas sindicais, buscando, no resgate das experiências do SIMPA, conexões com o que alguns autores têm chamado de ―sindicalismo de movimento social‖, no que tange à relação do sindicalismo clássico com os novos protestos e movimentos que tem surgido em nossos tempos. / This project, developed in the field of Sociology of Work, aims to cooperate with the discussion about the current and future unionism, connected to the Labour Revitalization Studies. Syndicalism in public sector, especially in the end of 1980‘s, was developed with the assumption of the union character of the civil servants trade unions, also with the influence of the new unionism over middle classes and the policy environment of the struggles for democratization in Brazil after dictatorship. That‘s how it was formed SIMPA, a union trade of civil servants of Porto Alegre City, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. SIMPA was the first union trade of municipal workers legalized in the country, and it is the empirical object of this research. Themes such as reforms and the persistence of the union structure, in a context of outsourcing in public administration, as well as the assumption for a large part of literature that union movement was passing through a crisis, are some elements that instigate the investigation of union actions face to the discussion of a supposed crisis or decline. With an Extended Case Method, we analyze the emergence of new unionism practices. Rescuing the experiences of SIMPA, we search for connections to with some authors have called ―Social Movement Unionism‖, about the relations between classical unionism and new demonstrations and movements that have been arising in our times.

Este projeto insere-se no campo da sociologia do trabalho, procurando contribuir com a discussão acerca do presente e do futuro do sindicalismo, conectado aos estudos de revitalização sindical. O sindicalismo no setor público, particularmente após o final da década de 1980, desenvolve-se através da assunção de caráter sindical das associações de servidores públicos, da influência do novo sindicalismo sobre as classes médias e do ambiente político das lutas pela democratização do Brasil pós-ditadura. Assim formou-se Sindicato dos Municipários de Porto Alegre (SIMPA), objeto empírico do presente trabalho, o primeiro sindicato de municipários legalizado no Brasil. As temáticas em torno das reformas e da persistência da estrutura sindical, em um contexto de terceirizações na administração pública, assim como a consideração por boa parte da literatura de que o movimento sindical passa por uma crise instiga à investigação das ações sindicais confrontadas à discussão da suposta crise ou declínio. Através de um estudo de caso estendido, analisamos a emergência de novas práticas sindicais, buscando, no resgate das experiências do SIMPA, conexões com o que alguns autores têm chamado de ―sindicalismo de movimento social‖, no que tange à relação do sindicalismo clássico com os novos protestos e movimentos que tem surgido em nossos tempos. / This project, developed in the field of Sociology of Work, aims to cooperate with the discussion about the current and future unionism, connected to the Labour Revitalization Studies. Syndicalism in public sector, especially in the end of 1980‘s, was developed with the assumption of the union character of the civil servants trade unions, also with the influence of the new unionism over middle classes and the policy environment of the struggles for democratization in Brazil after dictatorship. That‘s how it was formed SIMPA, a union trade of civil servants of Porto Alegre City, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. SIMPA was the first union trade of municipal workers legalized in the country, and it is the empirical object of this research. Themes such as reforms and the persistence of the union structure, in a context of outsourcing in public administration, as well as the assumption for a large part of literature that union movement was passing through a crisis, are some elements that instigate the investigation of union actions face to the discussion of a supposed crisis or decline. With an Extended Case Method, we analyze the emergence of new unionism practices. Rescuing the experiences of SIMPA, we search for connections to with some authors have called ―Social Movement Unionism‖, about the relations between classical unionism and new demonstrations and movements that have been arising in our times.

Este projeto insere-se no campo da sociologia do trabalho, procurando contribuir com a discussão acerca do presente e do futuro do sindicalismo, conectado aos estudos de revitalização sindical. O sindicalismo no setor público, particularmente após o final da década de 1980, desenvolve-se através da assunção de caráter sindical das associações de servidores públicos, da influência do novo sindicalismo sobre as classes médias e do ambiente político das lutas pela democratização do Brasil pós-ditadura. Assim formou-se Sindicato dos Municipários de Porto Alegre (SIMPA), objeto empírico do presente trabalho, o primeiro sindicato de municipários legalizado no Brasil. As temáticas em torno das reformas e da persistência da estrutura sindical, em um contexto de terceirizações na administração pública, assim como a consideração por boa parte da literatura de que o movimento sindical passa por uma crise instiga à investigação das ações sindicais confrontadas à discussão da suposta crise ou declínio. Através de um estudo de caso estendido, analisamos a emergência de novas práticas sindicais, buscando, no resgate das experiências do SIMPA, conexões com o que alguns autores têm chamado de ―sindicalismo de movimento social‖, no que tange à relação do sindicalismo clássico com os novos protestos e movimentos que tem surgido em nossos tempos. / This project, developed in the field of Sociology of Work, aims to cooperate with the discussion about the current and future unionism, connected to the Labour Revitalization Studies. Syndicalism in public sector, especially in the end of 1980‘s, was developed with the assumption of the union character of the civil servants trade unions, also with the influence of the new unionism over middle classes and the policy environment of the struggles for democratization in Brazil after dictatorship. That‘s how it was formed SIMPA, a union trade of civil servants of Porto Alegre City, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. SIMPA was the first union trade of municipal workers legalized in the country, and it is the empirical object of this research. Themes such as reforms and the persistence of the union structure, in a context of outsourcing in public administration, as well as the assumption for a large part of literature that union movement was passing through a crisis, are some elements that instigate the investigation of union actions face to the discussion of a supposed crisis or decline. With an Extended Case Method, we analyze the emergence of new unionism practices. Rescuing the experiences of SIMPA, we search for connections to with some authors have called ―Social Movement Unionism‖, about the relations between classical unionism and new demonstrations and movements that have been arising in our times.

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This study examines trade union resistance to the post 1977 Export Oriented Industrialisation (EOI) strategies in Sri Lanka, and the possibilities of developing new strategic options. In contrast to perspectives that narrow unions to political economic dimensions, this study emphasises the cultural and the movement dimensions of unions. The purpose of the study is to understand the ways unions can regain their role as civil society actors on the basis of building worker solidarity. The study is divided into two main parts. The first part focuses on the features and tendencies of social movement unionism as advancing new possibilities towards revitalising unions. Under globalisation, unions are faced with an increasingly casualised labour force with more women absorbed as wage workers. The promotion of labour market deregulation and privatisation, endorsed by neo-liberal ideologies of competitive individualism, illustrates the narrowing of unions to the workplace while undermining worker solidarity. The first part of this research describes the impact of :neo-liberal globalisation on trade unions; conceptualisation of and resistance to globalisation; the essence of trade unions; social movement unionism and labour internationalism. According to social movement unionism perspectives, party independent union strategies, based on elements of internal democracy and structured alliances open the possibility of emphasising the movement dimension of unions. The second part explains the context of unions in Sri Lanka, focusing on three unions - the Nurses, Tea Plantation workers, and Free Trade Zone workers. In terms of the structural context, Sri Lankan unions faced a multi-faceted weakening under the post-1977 EOI policies. The assertion of an authoritarian state, promoting interests of capital, enhanced the fragmentation of unions along party differences that were further compounded by divisions along ethnic identity politics. Moreover, the increasing militarisation of the state, which maintains a protracted ethnic war, reinforced coercive state strategies restraining union resistance and shrinking the realm of civil society. In confronting state strategies of labour market deregulation and privatisation, the enduring party subordinated unions are increasingly inadequate. In contrast, the three unions in this study express forms of party-independent union strategies. By analysing their modes of resistance related to the articulation of worker interests, their organisational modes, and their engagement in representative and movement politics the study explores the possibility of developing a social movement unionism orientation in order to regain their role as civil society actors

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This dissertation examines collaborations between the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and non-union elements of global civil society (GCS). GCS is presented as a crucial emergent site of transnational class formation, and ITUC collaborations within this field are treated as potentially important moments in transnational class formation. The goal of the dissertation is threefold. It seeks to 1) address the lacuna in GCS studies around the involvement of organized labour; 2) provide an analysis of what ITUC GCS collaborations mean for the remit and repertoire of action of the ITUC; and 3) provide an analysis of the impact of ITUC collaborations on transnational class formation. What the findings show is that the ITUC is heavily engaged in GCS through numerous collaborations with non-union organizations concerned with environmental degradation, human rights, global economic inequality, and women workers. Most significantly, collaboration within GCS has provided the ITUC an avenue to incorporate the needs of marginalized women workers whose work does not “fit” into the traditional model of trade union organizing. These findings lead to the conclusion that these collaborations have allowed the ITUC to expand the remit of its activities beyond “bread-and-butter” unionism, and expand its repertoire of action beyond interstate diplomacy. However, the findings do not support the idea that the ITUC has adopted a social movement framework, although it is clear that the ethos of social movement unionism has had an impact on the organization. Nonetheless, the dissertation concludes that the incorporation of marginalized women workers, and the active engagement of the ITUC in global environmental policy debates, signifies a new moment in transnational class formation. / Graduate / 0629 / 0703 / davidbhuxtable@gmail.com