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Where Have All the Classes Gone?

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Where Have All the Classes Gone? Where have all the classes gone? A critical perspective on struggles and collective action Labor and Globalization Volume 8 Edited by Christoph Scherrer Oksana Balashova, Ismail Doga Karatepe, Aishah Namukasa (Eds.) Where have all the classes gone? A critical perspective on struggles and collective action Rainer Hampp Verlag Augsburg, München 2017 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. ISBN 978-3-86618-893-8 Labor and globalization: ISSN 2196-5382 First published 2017 Cover picture by Umut Kaçar: Gezi Park Protest © 2017 Rainer Hampp Verlag Augsburg, München Vorderer Lech 35 86150 Augsburg, Germany www.Hampp-Verlag.de All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. In case of complaints please contact Rainer Hampp Verlag. Contents List of figures iv List of tables iv List of abbreviations v Notes on contributors viii Acknowledgements xi Foreword xiii Christoph Scherrer Introduction: Are the classes really gone? 1 Oksana Balashova, Ismail Doga Karatepe and Aishah Namukasa Part I: Theorizing social movements and uprisings 11 2 Building an alternative to mainstream social movement theories: Totality and antagonism 12 Cenk Saraçoğlu 3 ‘Us’ and ‘them’: Theoretical insights about the class division in contemporary capitalism 29 Jorge Enrique Forero i Part II: Political landscape and social struggles 47 4 The June 2013 demonstrations in Brazil: The eclipsing of class politics? 48 Victor Strazzeri 5 Reading contemporary developments in Turkey from the class-relevant aspects of Islamists: A concise commentary on the coup d’état attempt 68 Ismail Doga Karatepe 6 What belongs together will grow together? The anti-austerity movements in Portugal 80 Anne Engelhardt Part III: Labor and social struggles 103 7 Women workers’ engagement in labor resistances: A case study of Istanbul’s garment industry 104 Gönül Düzer 8 Industrial unrest and role of trade unions in China 126 Cheng Li 9 Long waves of strikes in South Africa: 1900-2015 146 Eddie Cottle Part IV: The mobilization and strategies of migrant workers 173 10 Resistance practices of migrant domestic workers: The case study of Ukrainian workers in Italy 174 Oksana Balashova 11 Dimensions of precarity of migrant domestic workers: Constraints and spaces in labor organizing in Malaysia 197 Verna Dinah Q. Viajar 12 Legal consciousness and rights claims of East African migrants in Britain 219 Aishah Namukasa ii Part V: Social movements beyond urban spaces 240 13 Communal territorial rights and the role of class, race, and ethnicity in recent agrarian struggles in Latin America 241 Jairo Baquero 14 Social movements in times of New Extractivism: Reflections upon peasant-indigenous struggles in Mendoza, Argentina 262 Joaquín M. Bernáldez Conclusion: The classes are there. But where are we? 277 Oksana Balashova, Ismail Doga Karatepe and Aishah Namukasa iii List of figures Figure 1: Migrant workers in China 1978-2012 127 Figure 2: Average monthly wages (RMB) of migrant workers and its Growth Rate (%), 2009-2013 128 Figure 3: Monthly Real Wage (RMB) of migrant workers 1978-2013 128 Figure 4: Wage and employment evolution in China under the tripartite labor supply model, 1978-2013 130 Figure 5: Collective labor disputes in China from October 2014-October 2015 133 Figure 6: Number of disposed labor disputes 2000-2013 134 Figure 7: Disposed labor disputes in China, 2013 135 Figure 8: Real GDP growth rate and strike frequency 1960-2014 154 Figure 9: Long waves of strikes in South Africa: 1900-2015 155 Figure 10: South Africa strike frequency 1906-2014 159 Figure 11: Strike frequency 1990-2014 163 Figure 12: Number of working days lost 1994-2014 164 List of tables Table 1: 2008 apparel manufacturing labor costs hourly in US dollars 131 Table 2: Migrant domestic workers’ issues and forms of rights violations in Malaysia 201 Table 3: Analytical framework in examining constraints and spaces of migrant domestic worker organizing in the Malaysian political economy 204 Table 4: Dimensions of precarity of migrant domestic workers in Malaysia 209 iv List of abbreviations ACFTU All-China Federation of Trade Unions ACLI COLF Associazioni Cristiane dei Lavoratori Italiani - Collaboratrici Familiari (Christian Associations of Italian Workers – Domestic Workers) AKP Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party) AMWU African Mine Workers Union AMCU Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union ANC African National Congress AP Adalet Partisi (Justice Party) BE Bloco Esquerda (Left Bloc) BWI Building and Woodworkers International CDS – PP Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular (CDS – People’s Party) CLB China Labor Bulletin CISL Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori (Italian Confederation of Workers’ Trade Unions) CGIL Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro (Italian General Confederation of Labor) CGTP Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses (General Trade Union Federation of Portuguese Workers) COSATU Congress of South African Trade Unions CPC Communist Party of China CPE Critical Political Economy CTEP Confederación de Trabajadores de la Economía Popular (Popular Economy Workers’ Confederation) CUT Central Única dos Trabalhadores (Unified Worker’s Central) DWA Domestic Workers’ Association ECHR European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms EU European Union FTZ Free Trade Zone GEFONT General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions GR Geração à Rasca (Desperate Generation) HSMP Highly Skilled Migrant Programme v ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights IFB Interest-free Bank ILO International Labour Organization IMF International Monetary Fund ISIS Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham LDMAL Labor Disputes Mediation and Arbitration Law MDW Migrant Domestic Worker MNCI Movimiento Nacional Campesino Indígena (National Peasant and Indigenous Movement) MoU Memorandum of Understanding MPL Movimento Passe Livre (Free Fare Movement) MSP Millî Selâmet Partisi (National Salvation Party) MST Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (Landless Worker’s Movement) MTUC Malaysian Trades Union Congress NBS National Bureau of Statistics NGO Non-Government Organization NHS National Health Service NUMSA National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development ONN Overseas Nurses Network PBS Points-based (immigration) system PCP Partido Comunista Português (Portuguese Communist Party) PDP Popular-Democratic Program PS Partido Socialista Português (Portuguese Socialist Party) PSD Partido Social Democrata (Social Democratic Party) PEC I-IV Programmes for Stability and Growth PSI Public Service International PSOL Partido Socialismo e Liberdade (Party of Socialism and Freedom) PSTU Partido Socialista dos Trabalhadores Unificado (Unified Socialist Workers’ Party) PT Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers Party) QSLT Que se lixe a Troika (To Hell with the Troika) vi ROS Register of Society RTP Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (Radio and Television of Portugal) SACP South African Communist Party SETC Sindicato dos Estivadores, Trabalhadores do Tráfego e Conferentes Marítimos do Centro e Sul de Portugal SMU Social Movement Unionism TOBB Türkiye Odalar ve Borsalar Birliği (Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey) TSU Taxa Social Única (Single Social Tax) TUC Trade Union Congress UDF United Democratic Front UGT União Geral de Trabalhadores (General Union of Workers) UID-DER Uluslararası İşçi Dayanışması Derneği (Association of International Workers’ Solidarity) UIL Unione Italiana del Lavoro (Italian Labor Union) UKVI UK Visas and Immigration UN United Nations UNAR Ufficio Nazionale Antidiscriminazioni Razziali (Italian National Office against Racial Discrimination) UNEP United Nations Environment Programme UNI-MLC UNI-Malaysia Labor Center UST Union de Trabajadores Rurales sin Tierra de Cuyo (Landless Rural Workers’ Union of Cuyo) vii Notes on contributors Oksana Balashova is a PhD Fellow at the International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD), University of Kassel, Germany. She graduated with an M.A. in European Interdisciplinary Studies from the College of Europe, Poland. She worked with the Solidarity Center on program development, and education and advocacy efforts promoting worker rights and strengthening civil society in Eastern Europe. Her areas of interest include labor rights and migration, gender studies, political economy, industrial relations and social movements. She can be contacted at: [email protected] Joaquín M. Bernáldez is a PhD fellow of the International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD) at the University of Kassel. Joaquín graduated from the University of Buenos Aires with a degree in Sociocultural Anthropology and later received his MA in Global Political Economy from the University of Kassel. His research revolves around political ecology, extractivism, environmental conflicts and ethnography. He is currently studying social and political aspects of oil and gas extraction in the region of Patagonia, Argentina.
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