The 2008 economic and political crisis produced a favourable opportunity structure for the emergence of new and innovative left-wing political projects and trade union strategies in Spain, especially in relation to remunicipalisation processes that sought to revert the neoliberal policy making at the local scale. The article deploys a Gramscian analysis on trade union discourse production in order to discern complex process of working-class formation and intra-class conflict in the beach cleaning units of the Andalusian city of Cádiz. Crucially, the oppositional stand defended by one of the largest trade unions in Spain towards remunicipalisation shows that trade unions can act as ‘retaining walls’ against political change in periods of social upheaval.
AnnunziatoF (2011) Gramsci’s theory of trade unionism. In: GreenM (ed.) Rethinking Gramsci. London: Routledge, pp. 112–130.
2.
BaileyDHukeNClua-LosadaM, et al. (2017) Beyond Defeat and Austerity: Disrupting (The Critical Political Economy Of) Neoliberal Europe. London: Routledge.
3.
BeneytoPAlosRJodarP, et al. (2016) La afiliacion sindical en la crisis. Estructura, evolución y trayectorias. Sociología Del Trabajo87: 24–44.
4.
BéroudS (2014) Crise économique et contestation sociale en Espagne: Des syndicats percutés par les mouvements sociaux ?Critique Internationale65: 27–42.
5.
BroughtonAManzoniC (2017) Employment in Privatised Utilities: A Higher Risk of Precariousness?Brussels: Committee on Employment and Social Affairs-European Parliament.
6.
BuendíaLMolero-SimarroR (2018) The Political Economy of Contemporary Spain. London: Routledge.
7.
BurnhamP (2014) Depoliticisation: Economic crisis and political management. Policy & Politics42(2): 189–206.
CharnockGPurcellTRibera-FumazR (2012) ‘¡Indígnate! The 2011 popular protests and the limits to democracy in Spain. Capital & Class36(1): 3–11.
10.
Clua-LosadaMRibera-AlmandozO (2017) Authoritarian neoliberalism and the disciplining of labour. In: TanselCB (ed.) States of Discipline: Authoritarian Neoliberalism and the Crises of Capitalism. London: Rowman & Littlefield International, pp. 29–46.
11.
DarlingtonR (2013) The Marxist rank-and-file/bureaucracy analysis of trade unionism: Some implications for the study of social movement organisations. In: BarkerCCoxLKrinskyJ, et al. (eds) Marxism and Social Movements. Leiden: Brill, pp. 187–208.
12.
DarlingtonRUpchurchM (2012) A reappraisal of the rank-and-file versus bureaucracy debate. Capital & Class36(1): 77–95.
13.
DaviesJ (2011) Challenging Governance Theory: From Networks to Hegemony. Chicago: Policy Press.
14.
DufourCHegeA (2011) L’évolution de la négociation collective et de ses acteurs dans six pays européens. Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations66(4): 535–561.
15.
DuvallJ (1982) Using Greimas’ narrative semiotics: Signification in Faulkner’s ‘The old people’. College Literature9(3): 192–206.
16.
ErrejónI (2015) We the people. El 15M: ¿Un populismo indignado?ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies14(1): 124–156.
17.
FairbrotherP (2015) Rethinking trade unionism: Union renewal as transition. The Economic and Labour Relations Review26(4): 561–576.
18.
Fernández-RodríguezCJMartínez-LucioM (2013) Narratives, myths and prejudice in understanding employment systems: The case of rigidities, dismissals and flexibility in Spain. Economic and Industrial Democracy34(2): 313–336.
19.
Fernández-RodríguezCJIbáñez-RojoRMartínez-LucioM (2016) Austerity and collective bargaining in Spain: The political and dysfunctional nature of neoliberal deregulation. European Journal of Industrial Relations22(3): 267–280.
20.
FernerACoolingT (1991) Privatisation, regulation and industrial relations’. British Journal of Industrial Relations29(3): 391–409.
21.
FontJ (2017) Nuevos mecanismos participativos: Un concepto, distintas realidades. Recerca: revista de pensament i analisi21: 131–135.
22.
FregeCKellyJMcGovernP (2011) Richard Hyman: Marxism, trade unionism and comparative employment relations. British Journal of Industrial Relations49(2): 209–230.
23.
GalastriL (2017) Social classes and subaltern groups: Theoretical distinction and political application. Capital & Class42(1): 43–62.
24.
GramsciA (1971) Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci (eds Nowell-SmithGHoareQ) London: International Publishers.
25.
GramsciA (1977) The Turin workers’ councils. In: BlackburnR (ed.) Revolution and Class Struggle: A Reader in Marxist Politics. Glasgow: Fontana, pp. 307–409.
26.
GreenM (2002) Gramsci cannot speak: Presentations and interpretations of Gramci’s concept of the subaltern. Rethinking Marxism14(3): 1–24.
27.
GreenM (2011) Rethinking the subaltern and the question of censorship in Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks. Postcolonial Studies14(4): 387–404.
28.
Gumbrell-McCormickRHymanR (2013) Trade Unions in Western Europe: Hard Times, Hard Choices. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
29.
HamannK (1997) The pacted transition to democracy and labour politics in Spain. South European Society and Politics2(2): 110–138.
30.
HamannK (2011) The Politics of Industrial Relations: Labor Unions in Spain. London: Routledge.
31.
HymanR (1975) Industrial Relations: A Marxist Introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
32.
HymanR (1989) The Political Economy of Industrial Relations: Theory and Practice in a Cold Climate. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
33.
HymanR (2001) Understanding European Trade Unionism: Between Market, Class and Society. London: SAGE.
34.
HymanR (2007) How can trade unions act strategically?Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research13(2): 193–210.
35.
HymanR (2012) Will the real Richard Hyman please stand up?Capital & Class36(1): 151–164.
36.
IglesiasP (2015) Understanding Podemos. New Left Review93: 7–22.
37.
IlyenkovE (2008) Dialectical Logic; Essays on Its History and Theory. Delhi, India: Aakar Books.
38.
JessopB (2005) Gramsci as a spatial theorist. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy8(4): 421–437.
39.
JessopBSumNL (2006) Beyond the Regulation Approach: Putting Capitalist Economies in Their Place. Cheltenham: Edward-Elgar.
40.
JódarPVidalSAlosR (2011) Union activism in an inclusive system of industrial relations: Evidence from a Spanish case study. British Journal of Industrial Relations49(1): 158–180.
41.
Las HerasJ (2018a) International political economy of labour and collective bargaining in the automotive industry. Competition & Change22(3): 313–331.
42.
Las HerasJ (2018b) Politics of power: Engaging with the structure-agency debate from a class-based perspective. Politics38(2): 165–181.
43.
Las HerasJ (2018c) To sign or not to sign? Union strategies towards provincial metal sector agreements in the Catalan and Basque automotive industries. European Journal of Industrial Relations. Epub ahead of print 13July. DOI: 10.1177/0959680118782364.
44.
Las HerasJRibera-AlmandozO (2017) When corporatism fails: Trade union strategies and grass-root resistance to the Spanish economic crisis. Journal of Labor and Society20(4): 449–466.
45.
LebowitzM (2003) Beyond “Capital”: Marx’s Political Economy of the Working Class. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
46.
LevesqueCMurrayG (2013) Renewing union narrative resources: How union capabilities make a difference. British Journal of Industrial Relations51(4): 777–796.
47.
López-BarcelóE (2017) La conquista de las ciudades. Las confluencias que hicieron posible los Ayuntamientos del Cambio. Madrid: Icaria.
48.
Martin-CriadoE (1991) Del sentido como producción: Elementos para un análisis sociológico del discurso. In: LatiesaM (ed.) El pluralismo metodológico en la investigación social. Granada: Universidad de Granada, pp. 187–212.
49.
Martin-CriadoE (2014) Mentiras, inconsistencias y ambivalencia. Teoría de la acción y análisis del discurso. Revista Internacional de Sociología72(1): 115–138.
50.
Martínez-LucioM (2012) Union politics, purpose and democracy: To be or not to be? Optimism, pessimism and the continuing importance of Richard Hyman’s early contributions. Capital & Class36(1): 35–51.
51.
Martínez-LucioM (2016) Incertidumbre, indecisión y neoliberalismo emergente. Sociología del trabajo87: 68–88.
52.
MillsAJDureposGWiebeE (2010) Encyclopedia of Case Study Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
53.
MolinaOBarrancoO (2016) Trade union strategies to enhance strike effectiveness in Italy and Spain. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research22(3): 383–399.
54.
MortonAD (2007) Unravelling Gramsci: Hegemony and Passive Revolution in the Global Political Economy. London: Pluto Press.
55.
O’HalloranK (2014) Digital argument deconstruction: An ethical software-assisted critical discourse analysis for highlighting where arguments fall apart. In: HartCCapP (eds) Contemporary Critical Discourse Studies. London: Bloomsbury, pp. 237–280.
56.
PanitchL (1981) Trade unions and the capitalist state. New Left Review125(1): 21–43.
57.
PérezdeGuzmánSRocaBDiaz-ParraI (2016) Political exchange, crisis of representation and trade union strategies in a time of austerity: Trade unions and 15M in Spain. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research22(4): 461–474.
RigbyMGarcía-CalaviaM (2017) Institutional resources as a source of trade union power in Southern Europe. European Journal of Industrial Relations24(2): 129–143.
60.
RocaB (2014) Izquierda radical, sindicalismo y acción colectiva en Andalucía (1976–2012). Cuadernos de Relaciones Laborales32(2): 439–468.
61.
RocaBDíaz-ParraI (2017) Blurring the borders between old and new social movements: The M15 movement and the radical unions in Spain. Mediterránean Politics22(2): 218–237.
62.
RocaBMartín-DiazEDíaz-ParraI (2018) Challenging Austerity: Radical Left and Social Movements in the South of Europe. New York: Routledge.
63.
RomanosE (2014) Evictions, petitions and escraches: Contentious housing in austerity Spain. Social Movement Studies13: 296–302.
64.
RubertoL (2007) Gramsci, Migration, and the Representation of Women’s Work in Italy and the U.S. Plymouth: Lexington Books.
65.
RuizJ (2009) Análisis sociológico del discurso: Métodos y lógica. Forum: Qualitative Social Research10(2): 26.
66.
RynerM (2015) Europe’s ordoliberal iron cage: Critical political economy, the euro area crisis and its management. Journal of European Public Policy22(2): 275–294.
67.
SchultzM (1995) On Studying Organizational Cultures: Diagnosis and Understanding. New York: de Gruyter.
68.
StrandingA (2015) From ‘PIIGS’ to the ‘good pupil’: Discursive depoliticization and the construction of crisis metanarratives in the Portuguese Sovereign Debt Crisis, 2010–14. In: Paper presented for the 2015 PSA conference, Sheffield, 30 May–1 April 2015.
69.
StreeckW (2014) How will capitalism end?New Left Review87: 35–64.
70.
ThomasP (2009) The Gramscian Moment: Philosophy, Hegemony and Marxism. Leiden: Brill.
71.
UpchurchMTaylorGMathersA (2009) The Crisis of Social Democratic Trade Unionism in Western Europe: The Search for Alternatives. London: Routledge.
72.
UrbanHJ (2012) Crisis corporatism and trade union revitalisation in Europe. In: LehendorffS (ed.) A Triumph of Failed Ideas European Models of Capitalism in the Crisis. Brussels: ETUI, pp. 219–242.
73.
VromenA (2010) Debating methods: Rediscovering qualitative approaches. In: MarshDStokerG (eds) Theory and Methods in Political Science. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 249–266.
74.
WelpY (2017) Municipalismo reloaded: Voluntad, política e instituciones. Recerca: Revista de Pensament i Anàlisi21: 165–169.
75.
WilsonJSwyngedouwE (2015) The Post-Political and Its Discontents: Spaces of Depoliticisation, Spectres of Radical Politics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
