scholarly journals Between Monarchy and Demands for Political Change: Regionalisation and internationalisation of trade union activism in Swaziland

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Tati
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Union Activism

scholarly journals Framing Black Communist Labour Union Activism in the Atlantic World: James W. Ford and the Establishment of the International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers, 1928–1931

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Weiss
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
International Trade ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Early Phase ◽  
Atlantic World ◽  
Black Atlantic ◽  
Black Workers ◽  
Labour Unions ◽  
Union Committee ◽  
Union Activism

AbstractThe International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers (ITUCNW) was a radical trans-Atlantic network for the propagation of black proletarian internationalism, established by the Red International of Labour Unions in 1928. Its key mastermind was James W. Ford, an African American communist labour union activist who was in charge of the organization and its operations until the autumn of 1931. This article critically highlights Ford's ambitions as well as the early phase of the organization. Both in terms of its agenda and objective as well as in its outreach among black workers in the Black Atlantic, the ITUCNW and its main propagators stressed the “class-before-race” argument of the Comintern rather than the pan-Africanist “race-before-class” approach. This is not surprising as the ITUCNW was one of the organizations that had been established when the Comintern and the RILU had started to apply the “class-against-class” doctrine, which left no room for cooperation between communists and radical pan-Africanists.

Workers’ resilience in occupied France: workers in Le Havre, 1941–1942

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-252
Author(s):  
Rebecca Shtasel
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Political Commitment ◽  
Building Site ◽  
German Occupation ◽  
Occupied France ◽  
Union Activism

Abstract Workers in Le Havre developed resilience through trade union activism, political commitment and community engagement in the pre-war period. This resilience allowed them to display their anger at new hardships that appeared at the start of the German occupation. In particular, workers rioted at a major building site and demanded and achieved wage rises; and, as the RAF bombed their town day and night, they continuously made demands for danger money. Indeed, they did not change their behaviour because the circumstances in which they now lived had changed; they continued to use the skills they had learnt during pre-war industrial battles to make demands that would improve the material situation of themselves and their fellow trade unionists. This analysis differs from most of the major historiography on workers during the Occupation which claims workers during the first two years of the Occupation were broadly passive and cite the miners’ strike in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais as the exception which proves the rule.

scholarly journals Trade union community membership: exploring what people who are not in paid employment could contribute to union activism

2021 ◽  
pp. 102425892110433
Author(s):  
Jane Holgate ◽  
Gabriella Alberti ◽  
Iona Byford ◽  
Ian Greenwood
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Labour Unions ◽  
Community Membership ◽  
Private Sector Union ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Paid Employment ◽  
Union Activism

The industrial relations literature tends to argue that workers join trade unions primarily for instrumental reasons, for example, to obtain assistance if there is a problem at work. But this clearly does not apply to people who are not in work. It is in many ways counterintuitive to join a trade union when one is not an employee or in paid employment, looking for a job, or retired. Generally, there is little material benefit in doing so. Others have noted, however, that personal values, particularly associated with the ideological left, can cultivate a predisposition toward joining a union that is not based on a purely material calculus. Nevertheless, this analysis is usually applied to workers. The research reflected in this article aims to understand the motivation of people who are not in paid employment, such as jobseekers/unemployed, students and retirees, to join labour unions and become active within them. It does so through a case study of the United Kingdom’s largest private sector union, Unite, and considers the contribution to, or rationale for, union activism within community membership and the possibilities for rethinking trade unionism beyond its traditional workplace base.

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