Caught in the Contract: Seriality and Collective Bargaining Agreements

• In Event: Labor and Labor Movements Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Roundtable 6: Unionization, Collective Bargaining, and Worker Organization

Abstract

In this piece, I analyze labor union contracts, or collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), through Sartre's theory of seriality laid out in his seminal work, Critique of Dialectical Reason (2004). This theoretical work renegotiates the effects of CBAs on union membership, corroborates existing literature, and brings it under one theoretical umbrella. I assert that contracts, as they currently function, serialize members through no-strike clauses, the grievance and arbitration process, and acting as mediator for benefits and pay. Members are, thus, in a state of alterity and demobilized. From this, I recommend new uses of CBAs to circumvent these pitfalls of demobilization, drawing on Sartrian theory to offer new methods for building collective praxis while still utilizing contracts. Bargaining for the Common Good is one such way to expand the horizon of the contract, maintaining a larger focus beyond the workplace. Contracts, then, may benefit the larger community and open up the possibility of securing more than just pay increases and benefits. Further, no-strike clauses must be subverted to allow for actions that build solidarity between members and allow for more collective methods to handle grievances. Finally, I advocate for increased interest and utilization of Sartrian theory in sociology.

Author

• Richard Hayden Courtney, Syracuse University