119 research outputs found
Mobilizing solidarity in factory occupations:Activist responses to multinational plant closures
Factory occupations are rare and sporadic events which shed light on the processes associated with the collective mobilization of workersâ power. This article utilizes Kellyâs agential and Atzeniâs structural explanations of worker mobilization to examine two disputes which took place during Britainâs long experience of deindustrialization: the occupations of Caterpillarâs tractor factory in Uddingston, Scotland, during 1987 and Vestasâ wind turbine plant on the Isle of Wight during 2009. Each occupation shared the context of multinational divestment and collective workforce grievance based on a common perception that their plant was economically viable and vital to the local economy. However, contrasting sources of leadership mobilized this sentiment in each case: union stewards from within Caterpillar, socialist activists from outside at Vestas. The article concludes that an effective explanation of occupations must synthesize structural and agential factors, emphasizing the coalescing role of activist networks and workersâ perceptions of their labourâs social utility
Custodians of true Scottish nationalism: the long roots of Scottish Labourâs constitutional conflict
Ewan Gibbs explains how major alterations to the politics of class and nationhood have their origins in deindustrialization, and how these deep roots continue to have consequences in Scottish politics
Whoâs ânormalâ? Class, culture and Labour politics in a fragmented Britain
Labour must reconnect with an economic analysis of class, for it is this that could in fact reunite the culturally polarised elements of a Labour electoral coalition
Whoâs ânormalâ? Class, culture and Labour politics in a fragmented Britain
Labour must reconnect with an economic analysis of class, for it is this that could in fact reunite the culturally polarised elements of a Labour electoral coalition
Many Labour MPs have still to unequivocally reject 'roll-out' neoliberalism
Chuka Umunna recently defended the last Labour government against a left-wing critique that its modus operandi was fundamentally neoliberal. Ewan Gibbs and Sean Kippin argue this does not consider the nature of neoliberalism, particularly the distinction between its 'roll-back' and 'roll-out' variants. They argue that New Labour's approach was indeed of the latter type
Feminist institutionalism and womenâs political leadership in Scotland: successes and failures
Jenny Morrison and Ewan Gibbs write that Scottish feministsâ experiences of organising in the Womenâs Liberation Movement pointed to the importance of pragmatically working towards shared goals across traditional divisions. This emphasis on consensus decision-making has moulded a centre-left framing for Scottish womenâs leadership that rejects both conservatism and left-wing radicalism
Remembering Auchengeich: the largest fatal accident in Scottish coal in the nationalised era
No abstract availabl
Remembering Auchengeich: the largest fatal accident in Scottish coal in the nationalised era
No abstract availabl
Whoâs âNormalâ?:Class, Culture and Labour Politics in a Fragmented Britain
Labour must reconnect with an economic analysis of class, for it is this that could in fact reunite the culturally polarised elements of a Labour electoral coalition
- âŠ