Destabilizations and learnings of belgian trade unionism in permanent restructuring

• Autor(a) principal: Lomba, Cédric
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Trabalho & Educação (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/trabedu/article/view/33213
• topic: Reestruturação; Sindicalismo; Trabalhadores; Conflitos; ArcellorMittal; Restructuring; Unionism; Workers; Conflicts; ArcellorMittal

This article analyzes the practices and reactions of trade unions in the context of permanent restructuring in the European industry since 1975. This article is based on the case of the Belgian steel industry where plants have suffered repeated downsizing plans but where unionization rates remained very high. The survey mixes ethnographic fieldwork in three plants, informative and biographical interviews with workers, trade unionists and managers, as well as corporate and union archives. The article points at first union leaders reactions from in order to limit the effects of downsizing and counter the managerial logic developed by experts. It then highlights the changes in the group morphology of union representatives in reduction, expanding their individual and collective activities in workers’ defense, and reconfiguration of organized resistance in the plants.