Collective Bargaining and Social Inequality Reproduction in Labor Relations. Ethnographic and Socio-historical approach (French case study)

• In Event: 3451 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 3. Corporations, NGOs, and Social Movements

Abstract

Against preconceived ideas, Collective bargaining is not necessarily reducing but also creating inequalities at work. Collective bargaining is commonly associated both to “economic democracy” (and more recently to “social dialog”) and to labor movement fights to get workers’ rights. This is a part of the story which tend to keep in the shadow social domination at work through democratic practices. Also, union as well as work sites can be taken as research laboratory to more understand social processes of inequality production, not only in labor relations but broadly in social space.
Unionists are locally and (inter)nationally involved in collective bargaining, which is a part of collective actions repertoire of unions and are supposed to reduce inequality. But by collective bargaining, union and employer representatives are, consciously as unconsciously, creating a large diversity of income and working conditions for similar workers, and so can contribute both to defend and get new rights for workers as well as to the construction of social inequalities between individuals.

Author

• Maïlys Gantois, CESSP/CRPS Université Paris I - Panthéon Sorbonne