Mark Bergfeld | Queen Mary, University of London (original) (raw)

Papers by Mark Bergfeld

Research paper thumbnail of Low-skill no more! essential workers, social reproduction and the legitimacy-crisis of the division of labour

Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 2022

Workers in the realm of social reproduction – e.g. nurses, carers, cleaners, food preparation wor... more Workers in the realm of social reproduction – e.g. nurses, carers, cleaners, food preparation workers etc. – are considered low-skill and are poorly remunerated. During the Covid-19 crisis they have been recast as ‘essential’, leading to unprecedented praise and attention in public discourse. Nonetheless, public praise for these ‘essential’ workers so far has not translated into a commitment for higher wages and improved working conditions. In this article, we argue that skills hierarchies continue to determine labour market outcomes and social inequalities. We pinpoint that these are embedded into the logic of capitalist social relations, rather than being an expression of the features of jobs themselves. We also show how some socially reproductive sectors resist the tendency to automation precisely because of the prevalence therein of a workforce which is portrayed as un-skilled. By focussing on low-skilled workers’ engagement in various forms of labour unrest and their demands for long overdue recognition and wage rises. the article puts into question the inherited skills-lexicon according to which low-wage jobs are unproductive and lacking in skills and competence. The authors conclude that these workers’ fights for the recognition of the dignity and importance of their jobs and professions can facilitate a rethinking of the division of labour in our societies.

Research paper thumbnail of RETAIN: Tackling labour shortages and turnover in the Property Services sector

RETAIN Project (VS/2019/0292), 2022

The Covid-19 crisis has further exacerbated labour shortages, leading to the so-called ‘Great Res... more The Covid-19 crisis has further exacerbated labour shortages, leading to the so-called ‘Great Resignation’, with many workers leaving their jobs across different sectors, and consequently many employers struggling to continue their business operations. The RETAIN project in that sense offers a pathway to break the vicious cycle of labour turnover and shortages by improving the overall standards in the sector.
The main aim of the report is to offer policy recommendations for tackling labour shortages and labour turnover, and improving retention in the Property Services sector, which includes both Industrial Cleaning and Private Security.

Research paper thumbnail of UNI Europa Literature Review: Labour Shortages and Turnover in Industrial Cleaning, Long-term Care and Private Security

RETAIN Project (VS/2019/0292), 2022

Labour shortages and labour turnover represent significant, long-term problems in Property Servic... more Labour shortages and labour turnover represent significant, long-term problems in Property Services and long-term care (LTC). While this is also the case in other parts of the services
industry, the sectors at hand share certain features that are particularly
relevant to the issues concerned: notably, high labour intensity, low rates of unionisation, low wages and often precarious and/or hazardous working conditions. Nevertheless, there has previously been a low engagement with the issues of labour turnover
and shortages in these sectors, and it has only been with the steep rise in labour shortages during the COVID-19 crisis that these subjects have begun to receive more attention. In this respect, the absence of a relevant academic literature review concerning this subject has been increasingly felt. We hope that the present review, which also draws on journalistic and industry accounts, may go some way to filling that gap.

This review forms part of the main report on the EU-funded RETAIN project (VS/2019/0292), which aims to identify the principal causes and policy solutions regarding labour turnover and shortages in the abovementioned sectors. Below, we analyse and report on a range of literature offering both general and industry-specific insights and we identify policy advice for trade unions, EWC representatives and employers on how to reduce labour turnover, improve retention and develop equitable and sustainable recruitment strategies that foster trade union membership and improve workers’ rights and collective bargaining outcomes. In selecting the topics presented in this review, we were influenced by several factors: the results of project activities identifying the main causes of and solutions to labour shortages
and labour turnover as defined by the principal stakeholders, in addition to the salience of topics in the examined literature.

Research paper thumbnail of Labour shortages at airports: Security guards and cleaners remain key

Social Europe, 2022

The ‘great resignation’ has thus taken in airports too, with more and more security guards and cl... more The ‘great resignation’ has thus taken in airports too, with more and more security guards and cleaners leaving their jobs. Even an industry web page asks: ‘Are ground staff under-valued?’

So over the last two and a half years, the service-workers trade union federation UNI Europa has run a project called RETAIN, with European Union support, on labour shortages, staff retention and turnover in cleaning and security.

The shortages predate the Covid-19 crisis. Already in 2018, worker representatives, shop stewards and works-council members were reporting that labour shortages and turnover were a pressing issue. Their companies couldn’t recruit sufficient workers for their contracts. One company representative from the Netherlands reported that there were ten times as many open vacancies as applicants.

Digitalisation and robotisation are not panaceas for such shortages. For years, security and cleaning companies prided themselves on investing in digital technologies and solutions without raising workers’ wages—even though security, cleaning and facility management remain labour-intensive. Robots will not replace cleaners and security workers any time soon. Even airports with large surface areas require humans to clean seats, empty rubbish and clean toilets.
According to our findings, based on more than 35 interviews and numerous meetings with worker representatives across Europe, staff shortages and turnover put pressure on existing employees, who suffer from stress and burnout and so leave the sector themselves. High turnover and understaffing then weaken trade unions’ capacity to represent workers, leading to further deterioration of working conditions. This leads to the inability to attract new workers and poorer services.

Research paper thumbnail of Jake Alimahomed-Wilson and Immanuel Ness, eds., Choke points: Logistics workers disrupting the global supply chain

Research paper thumbnail of Macht und Widerstand

Research paper thumbnail of ‘Do you believe in life after work?’ The University and College Union strike in Britain

Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 2018

From 21 February until 19 March 2018, Britain's university system was engulfed in its largest ind... more From 21 February until 19 March 2018, Britain's university system was engulfed in its largest industrial dispute ever. Lecturers, professors and academic support staff at 61 universities, organised in the University and College Union (UCU), went on strike for 14 days to defend their pensions. At the time of writing (28 March 2018), they continue to take actions short of striking, with 14 further days of strike action planned for the exam period. In this article, I will give a brief overview of why lecturers, professors and academic support staff went on strike, how the strike movement developed and why the pensions dispute opened a whole array of other questions. By drawing on my own experiences during the strike, informal conversations, participation in union branch meetings and online fora, I argue that the proposed changes to lecturers' pensions were the catalyst, whereas the causes of the unprecedented levels of strike action run deeper. The main reason why academic workers decided to take industrial action at an unprecedented level was the decision of university employers to abolish the 'defined benefit' system of the pension scheme. Premised on a risk calculation by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) claimed to be running a deficit. As the pension scheme is no longer government-backed, the proposal envisaged that employees' pensions would be coupled to stock market performance rather than their individual contribution. The union's calculations estimated that this would leave the average university lecturer £10,000 worse off a year, with women and Black Minority Ethnic employees disproportionately affected due to the gender and racial pay gap in Britain's higher education sector. For many employees on temporary teaching or research contracts (including myself), the pension scheme is one of the reasons low wages and insecure contracts are accepted for some time. It is estimated that half of all academic staff are employed on 'insecure' contracts, while hourly-paid staff deliver between 15 and 40 per cent of teaching. The most prominent changes to Britain's higher education system have been the introduction of top-up fees in 2006 and the trebling of tuition fees to £9000 per year in December 2010. Despite the increased cash flow generated from these changes, teaching and research conditions have worsened for the majority of staff across Britain's universities. Meanwhile, Vice-Chancellors have received massive pay rises, while millions are being invested in luxurious student accommodation projects and campuses abroad. Moreover, teaching staff have been subject to intrusive assessments such as the Teaching Excellence Framework and increasingly Tayloristic forms of supervision in the classroom. The National Student Survey (NSS) meanwhile has intensified the image of the student as a consumer. For research staff, the mantra has become 'publish or perish'. The Research Excellence Framework (REF)-the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions-has been criticised for valuing quantity over quality. A monograph, for example, has equal value to a peer-reviewed article. Time and time again, this neoliberal transformation of Britain's higher education system has produced resistance. In 2006, the UCU's predecessor unions AUT and Nafthe demanded a 23 per

Research paper thumbnail of The Perils of the "White Working Class": Analysing the New Discussion on Class

Global Labour Journal, 2019

Research paper thumbnail of Book Review: The Politics of Immigration: Partisanship, Demographic Change, and American National Identity by Tom K. Wong

Research paper thumbnail of Der erste Präsident. Karl Renner – eine politische Biografie, written by Saage, Richard

East Central Europe, 2017

Research paper thumbnail of Wobblies of the World: a global history of the IWW

Research paper thumbnail of A Review of "We Are Many

Research paper thumbnail of Germany’s Willkommenskultur: Trade Unions, Refugees and Labour Market Integration

Global Labour Journal, 2017

This article investigates the relationship between German trade unions and refugees by focusing o... more This article investigates the relationship between German trade unions and refugees by focusing on union policies and practices aimed at integrating refugees into the labour market and wider society. Based on web research, newspaper articles, participant observation and internal documents, this article shows that unions follow a “logic of optimisation” in their support of the state’s migration and asylum policies. As employers aim to undermine existing labour standards, unions’ strategies of integration run up against limits. This article further finds that that unions’ positive stance toward refugees is based on Germany’s labour shortage, demographic trends and their commitment to anti-racism.

Research paper thumbnail of You’re Either a Flower in the Dustbin or the Spark That Lights a Fire: On Precarity and Student Protests

Academic Labour, Unemployment and Global Higher Education, 2016

If you were to ask a call centre worker in Glasgow, a cab driver in Berlin, and a bar worker in L... more If you were to ask a call centre worker in Glasgow, a cab driver in Berlin, and a bar worker in London what Johnny Rotten and Bruce Springsteen have in common, they would probably give some half-hearted, half-guessed answer containing the words punk and no future. Then all of them would rant about how shit The Boss is, and how they do not understand what Springsteen finds so great about New Jersey.

Research paper thumbnail of Why Marx Was Right, by Terry Eagleton

Rethinking Marxism, 2014

In this book review, the author argues that Terry Eagleton's Why Marx Was Right addresses per... more In this book review, the author argues that Terry Eagleton's Why Marx Was Right addresses pertinent questions in relation to the Marxist concept of social class and oppression. In doing so, he shows that Marxism ought to be conceived as a method, if it ought to have any future whatsoever. He concludes that Eagleton's book makes a valuable contribution to lift Marxism from the margins into the mainstream.

Research paper thumbnail of Low-skill no more! essential workers, social reproduction and the legitimacy-crisis of the division of labour

DISTINKTION: JOURNAL OF SOCIAL THEORY, 2022

Workers in the realm of social reproduction – e.g. nurses, carers, cleaners, food preparation wor... more Workers in the realm of social reproduction – e.g. nurses, carers,
cleaners, food preparation workers etc. – are considered low-skill
and are poorly remunerated. During the Covid-19 crisis they have
been recast as ‘essential’, leading to unprecedented praise and
attention in public discourse. Nonetheless, public praise for these
‘essential’ workers so far has not translated into a commitment
for higher wages and improved working conditions. In this article,
we argue that skills hierarchies continue to determine labour
market outcomes and social inequalities. We pinpoint that these
are embedded into the logic of capitalist social relations, rather
than being an expression of the features of jobs themselves. We
also show how some socially reproductive sectors resist the
tendency to automation precisely because of the prevalence
therein of a workforce which is portrayed as un-skilled. By
focussing on low-skilled workers’ engagement in various forms of
labour unrest and their demands for long overdue recognition
and wage rises. the article puts into question the inherited skillslexicon according to which low-wage jobs are unproductive and
lacking in skills and competence. The authors conclude that these
workers’ fights for the recognition of the dignity and importance
of their jobs and professions can facilitate a rethinking of the
division of labour in our societies.

Research paper thumbnail of DELL’s corporate strategy (2008-2012): A sector matrix analysis and the limits of the ‘product’ and ‘commodity’ chain

Queen Mary University of London , 2013

In 2013 DELL announced that it would go private after being publically traded for more than twent... more In 2013 DELL announced that it would go private after being publically traded for more than twenty-four years on the stock exchange (Gugliemo 2013). This paper identifies that this strategic move on behalf of DELL management cannot be adequately analysed and understood by the ‘productionist’ concepts of ‘commodity’ and ‘product’ chain (Porter 1985; Gereffi 1996, 2002). On the basis of DELL’s openly available fiscal reports (2008- 2012) I suggest that DELL lacked a coherent corporate strategy during the last period. This is primarily due to the short-term pressures that ‘financialisation’ places on management. The move to go private must be understood as a way to develop a longer term strategy without the pressures to deliver ‘shareholder value’.

Research paper thumbnail of German Trade Union Approaches to Migration and Migrant Workers from Past to Present

International Trade Union Rights , 2021

Despite migrant workers having a continuous presence in the German labour market since the 1950s,... more Despite migrant workers having a continuous presence in the German labour market since the 1950s, the children and grandchildren of these guestworkers are often still regarded as second-class citizens and, in many cases, still struggle to accessGerman citizenship. The far-right AfD’s entrance into Germany’s parliamentary landscape has shifted
politics of citizenship even further to the right, with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government now having passed numerous bills curtailing the right to asylum, restricting dual citizenship and thus negatively
impacting on integration policies.

It is against this background that this article seeks to outline German trade unions approach to migrant workers from the first guestworker programmes to today, underlining some of the persistent challenges
which German trade unions have overcome in the past, face at present and will have to address in years to come.

Research paper thumbnail of How COVID 19 has ignited new struggles over workers’ health and safety - RLS Geneva

Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung - Geneva, 2021

The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted how governments’ approaches to workers’ health and safety hav... more The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted how governments’ approaches to workers’ health and safety have fallen short in preventing the spread of the virus and protecting its citizens in the world of work. Instead of protecting so-called ‘essential’ workers, governments and businesses left low-paid workers such as care workers, supermarket staff, warehouse, agricultural workers, and cleaners defenceless in the face of the rapidly spreading virus.

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and World Health Organisation (WHO), up to 20-30 per cent of COVID-19 cases may be attributed to exposure at work[1]. Business opposition to mandatory testing, inadequate remote working policies and above all the lack of provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) have only exacerbated the public health crisis.

Thus, the on-going COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges as well as opportunities for trade unions, social movements and progressive forces who want to put public health above private profits.

Research paper thumbnail of Book Review: Claire Ainsley (2018) The New Working Class: How to Win Hearts, Minds and Votes

Global Labour Journal, 2020

Whether Guy Standing’s books on the “precariat”, Didier Eribon’s recollections of struggling with... more Whether Guy Standing’s books on the “precariat”, Didier Eribon’s recollections of struggling with his working-class and gay identities, or the numerous books on the “white working class” published in the wake of Brexit and Trump, sociological discussions on social class are no longer frowned upon. While explicitly Marxist discussions on class as a social relation remain marginal, status group models and, in particular, culturalist explanations have gained in prominence in recent years. It is against this background that Claire Ainsley’s book The New Working Class: How to Win Hearts, Minds and Votes needs to be analysed.

Research paper thumbnail of Low-skill no more! essential workers, social reproduction and the legitimacy-crisis of the division of labour

Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 2022

Workers in the realm of social reproduction – e.g. nurses, carers, cleaners, food preparation wor... more Workers in the realm of social reproduction – e.g. nurses, carers, cleaners, food preparation workers etc. – are considered low-skill and are poorly remunerated. During the Covid-19 crisis they have been recast as ‘essential’, leading to unprecedented praise and attention in public discourse. Nonetheless, public praise for these ‘essential’ workers so far has not translated into a commitment for higher wages and improved working conditions. In this article, we argue that skills hierarchies continue to determine labour market outcomes and social inequalities. We pinpoint that these are embedded into the logic of capitalist social relations, rather than being an expression of the features of jobs themselves. We also show how some socially reproductive sectors resist the tendency to automation precisely because of the prevalence therein of a workforce which is portrayed as un-skilled. By focussing on low-skilled workers’ engagement in various forms of labour unrest and their demands for long overdue recognition and wage rises. the article puts into question the inherited skills-lexicon according to which low-wage jobs are unproductive and lacking in skills and competence. The authors conclude that these workers’ fights for the recognition of the dignity and importance of their jobs and professions can facilitate a rethinking of the division of labour in our societies.

Research paper thumbnail of RETAIN: Tackling labour shortages and turnover in the Property Services sector

RETAIN Project (VS/2019/0292), 2022

The Covid-19 crisis has further exacerbated labour shortages, leading to the so-called ‘Great Res... more The Covid-19 crisis has further exacerbated labour shortages, leading to the so-called ‘Great Resignation’, with many workers leaving their jobs across different sectors, and consequently many employers struggling to continue their business operations. The RETAIN project in that sense offers a pathway to break the vicious cycle of labour turnover and shortages by improving the overall standards in the sector.
The main aim of the report is to offer policy recommendations for tackling labour shortages and labour turnover, and improving retention in the Property Services sector, which includes both Industrial Cleaning and Private Security.

Research paper thumbnail of UNI Europa Literature Review: Labour Shortages and Turnover in Industrial Cleaning, Long-term Care and Private Security

RETAIN Project (VS/2019/0292), 2022

Labour shortages and labour turnover represent significant, long-term problems in Property Servic... more Labour shortages and labour turnover represent significant, long-term problems in Property Services and long-term care (LTC). While this is also the case in other parts of the services
industry, the sectors at hand share certain features that are particularly
relevant to the issues concerned: notably, high labour intensity, low rates of unionisation, low wages and often precarious and/or hazardous working conditions. Nevertheless, there has previously been a low engagement with the issues of labour turnover
and shortages in these sectors, and it has only been with the steep rise in labour shortages during the COVID-19 crisis that these subjects have begun to receive more attention. In this respect, the absence of a relevant academic literature review concerning this subject has been increasingly felt. We hope that the present review, which also draws on journalistic and industry accounts, may go some way to filling that gap.

This review forms part of the main report on the EU-funded RETAIN project (VS/2019/0292), which aims to identify the principal causes and policy solutions regarding labour turnover and shortages in the abovementioned sectors. Below, we analyse and report on a range of literature offering both general and industry-specific insights and we identify policy advice for trade unions, EWC representatives and employers on how to reduce labour turnover, improve retention and develop equitable and sustainable recruitment strategies that foster trade union membership and improve workers’ rights and collective bargaining outcomes. In selecting the topics presented in this review, we were influenced by several factors: the results of project activities identifying the main causes of and solutions to labour shortages
and labour turnover as defined by the principal stakeholders, in addition to the salience of topics in the examined literature.

Research paper thumbnail of Labour shortages at airports: Security guards and cleaners remain key

Social Europe, 2022

The ‘great resignation’ has thus taken in airports too, with more and more security guards and cl... more The ‘great resignation’ has thus taken in airports too, with more and more security guards and cleaners leaving their jobs. Even an industry web page asks: ‘Are ground staff under-valued?’

So over the last two and a half years, the service-workers trade union federation UNI Europa has run a project called RETAIN, with European Union support, on labour shortages, staff retention and turnover in cleaning and security.

The shortages predate the Covid-19 crisis. Already in 2018, worker representatives, shop stewards and works-council members were reporting that labour shortages and turnover were a pressing issue. Their companies couldn’t recruit sufficient workers for their contracts. One company representative from the Netherlands reported that there were ten times as many open vacancies as applicants.

Digitalisation and robotisation are not panaceas for such shortages. For years, security and cleaning companies prided themselves on investing in digital technologies and solutions without raising workers’ wages—even though security, cleaning and facility management remain labour-intensive. Robots will not replace cleaners and security workers any time soon. Even airports with large surface areas require humans to clean seats, empty rubbish and clean toilets.
According to our findings, based on more than 35 interviews and numerous meetings with worker representatives across Europe, staff shortages and turnover put pressure on existing employees, who suffer from stress and burnout and so leave the sector themselves. High turnover and understaffing then weaken trade unions’ capacity to represent workers, leading to further deterioration of working conditions. This leads to the inability to attract new workers and poorer services.

Research paper thumbnail of Jake Alimahomed-Wilson and Immanuel Ness, eds., Choke points: Logistics workers disrupting the global supply chain

Research paper thumbnail of Macht und Widerstand

Research paper thumbnail of ‘Do you believe in life after work?’ The University and College Union strike in Britain

Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 2018

From 21 February until 19 March 2018, Britain's university system was engulfed in its largest ind... more From 21 February until 19 March 2018, Britain's university system was engulfed in its largest industrial dispute ever. Lecturers, professors and academic support staff at 61 universities, organised in the University and College Union (UCU), went on strike for 14 days to defend their pensions. At the time of writing (28 March 2018), they continue to take actions short of striking, with 14 further days of strike action planned for the exam period. In this article, I will give a brief overview of why lecturers, professors and academic support staff went on strike, how the strike movement developed and why the pensions dispute opened a whole array of other questions. By drawing on my own experiences during the strike, informal conversations, participation in union branch meetings and online fora, I argue that the proposed changes to lecturers' pensions were the catalyst, whereas the causes of the unprecedented levels of strike action run deeper. The main reason why academic workers decided to take industrial action at an unprecedented level was the decision of university employers to abolish the 'defined benefit' system of the pension scheme. Premised on a risk calculation by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) claimed to be running a deficit. As the pension scheme is no longer government-backed, the proposal envisaged that employees' pensions would be coupled to stock market performance rather than their individual contribution. The union's calculations estimated that this would leave the average university lecturer £10,000 worse off a year, with women and Black Minority Ethnic employees disproportionately affected due to the gender and racial pay gap in Britain's higher education sector. For many employees on temporary teaching or research contracts (including myself), the pension scheme is one of the reasons low wages and insecure contracts are accepted for some time. It is estimated that half of all academic staff are employed on 'insecure' contracts, while hourly-paid staff deliver between 15 and 40 per cent of teaching. The most prominent changes to Britain's higher education system have been the introduction of top-up fees in 2006 and the trebling of tuition fees to £9000 per year in December 2010. Despite the increased cash flow generated from these changes, teaching and research conditions have worsened for the majority of staff across Britain's universities. Meanwhile, Vice-Chancellors have received massive pay rises, while millions are being invested in luxurious student accommodation projects and campuses abroad. Moreover, teaching staff have been subject to intrusive assessments such as the Teaching Excellence Framework and increasingly Tayloristic forms of supervision in the classroom. The National Student Survey (NSS) meanwhile has intensified the image of the student as a consumer. For research staff, the mantra has become 'publish or perish'. The Research Excellence Framework (REF)-the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions-has been criticised for valuing quantity over quality. A monograph, for example, has equal value to a peer-reviewed article. Time and time again, this neoliberal transformation of Britain's higher education system has produced resistance. In 2006, the UCU's predecessor unions AUT and Nafthe demanded a 23 per

Research paper thumbnail of The Perils of the "White Working Class": Analysing the New Discussion on Class

Global Labour Journal, 2019

Research paper thumbnail of Book Review: The Politics of Immigration: Partisanship, Demographic Change, and American National Identity by Tom K. Wong

Research paper thumbnail of Der erste Präsident. Karl Renner – eine politische Biografie, written by Saage, Richard

East Central Europe, 2017

Research paper thumbnail of Wobblies of the World: a global history of the IWW

Research paper thumbnail of A Review of "We Are Many

Research paper thumbnail of Germany’s Willkommenskultur: Trade Unions, Refugees and Labour Market Integration

Global Labour Journal, 2017

This article investigates the relationship between German trade unions and refugees by focusing o... more This article investigates the relationship between German trade unions and refugees by focusing on union policies and practices aimed at integrating refugees into the labour market and wider society. Based on web research, newspaper articles, participant observation and internal documents, this article shows that unions follow a “logic of optimisation” in their support of the state’s migration and asylum policies. As employers aim to undermine existing labour standards, unions’ strategies of integration run up against limits. This article further finds that that unions’ positive stance toward refugees is based on Germany’s labour shortage, demographic trends and their commitment to anti-racism.

Research paper thumbnail of You’re Either a Flower in the Dustbin or the Spark That Lights a Fire: On Precarity and Student Protests

Academic Labour, Unemployment and Global Higher Education, 2016

If you were to ask a call centre worker in Glasgow, a cab driver in Berlin, and a bar worker in L... more If you were to ask a call centre worker in Glasgow, a cab driver in Berlin, and a bar worker in London what Johnny Rotten and Bruce Springsteen have in common, they would probably give some half-hearted, half-guessed answer containing the words punk and no future. Then all of them would rant about how shit The Boss is, and how they do not understand what Springsteen finds so great about New Jersey.

Research paper thumbnail of Why Marx Was Right, by Terry Eagleton

Rethinking Marxism, 2014

In this book review, the author argues that Terry Eagleton's Why Marx Was Right addresses per... more In this book review, the author argues that Terry Eagleton's Why Marx Was Right addresses pertinent questions in relation to the Marxist concept of social class and oppression. In doing so, he shows that Marxism ought to be conceived as a method, if it ought to have any future whatsoever. He concludes that Eagleton's book makes a valuable contribution to lift Marxism from the margins into the mainstream.

Research paper thumbnail of Low-skill no more! essential workers, social reproduction and the legitimacy-crisis of the division of labour

DISTINKTION: JOURNAL OF SOCIAL THEORY, 2022

Workers in the realm of social reproduction – e.g. nurses, carers, cleaners, food preparation wor... more Workers in the realm of social reproduction – e.g. nurses, carers,
cleaners, food preparation workers etc. – are considered low-skill
and are poorly remunerated. During the Covid-19 crisis they have
been recast as ‘essential’, leading to unprecedented praise and
attention in public discourse. Nonetheless, public praise for these
‘essential’ workers so far has not translated into a commitment
for higher wages and improved working conditions. In this article,
we argue that skills hierarchies continue to determine labour
market outcomes and social inequalities. We pinpoint that these
are embedded into the logic of capitalist social relations, rather
than being an expression of the features of jobs themselves. We
also show how some socially reproductive sectors resist the
tendency to automation precisely because of the prevalence
therein of a workforce which is portrayed as un-skilled. By
focussing on low-skilled workers’ engagement in various forms of
labour unrest and their demands for long overdue recognition
and wage rises. the article puts into question the inherited skillslexicon according to which low-wage jobs are unproductive and
lacking in skills and competence. The authors conclude that these
workers’ fights for the recognition of the dignity and importance
of their jobs and professions can facilitate a rethinking of the
division of labour in our societies.

Research paper thumbnail of DELL’s corporate strategy (2008-2012): A sector matrix analysis and the limits of the ‘product’ and ‘commodity’ chain

Queen Mary University of London , 2013

In 2013 DELL announced that it would go private after being publically traded for more than twent... more In 2013 DELL announced that it would go private after being publically traded for more than twenty-four years on the stock exchange (Gugliemo 2013). This paper identifies that this strategic move on behalf of DELL management cannot be adequately analysed and understood by the ‘productionist’ concepts of ‘commodity’ and ‘product’ chain (Porter 1985; Gereffi 1996, 2002). On the basis of DELL’s openly available fiscal reports (2008- 2012) I suggest that DELL lacked a coherent corporate strategy during the last period. This is primarily due to the short-term pressures that ‘financialisation’ places on management. The move to go private must be understood as a way to develop a longer term strategy without the pressures to deliver ‘shareholder value’.

Research paper thumbnail of German Trade Union Approaches to Migration and Migrant Workers from Past to Present

International Trade Union Rights , 2021

Despite migrant workers having a continuous presence in the German labour market since the 1950s,... more Despite migrant workers having a continuous presence in the German labour market since the 1950s, the children and grandchildren of these guestworkers are often still regarded as second-class citizens and, in many cases, still struggle to accessGerman citizenship. The far-right AfD’s entrance into Germany’s parliamentary landscape has shifted
politics of citizenship even further to the right, with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government now having passed numerous bills curtailing the right to asylum, restricting dual citizenship and thus negatively
impacting on integration policies.

It is against this background that this article seeks to outline German trade unions approach to migrant workers from the first guestworker programmes to today, underlining some of the persistent challenges
which German trade unions have overcome in the past, face at present and will have to address in years to come.

Research paper thumbnail of How COVID 19 has ignited new struggles over workers’ health and safety - RLS Geneva

Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung - Geneva, 2021

The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted how governments’ approaches to workers’ health and safety hav... more The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted how governments’ approaches to workers’ health and safety have fallen short in preventing the spread of the virus and protecting its citizens in the world of work. Instead of protecting so-called ‘essential’ workers, governments and businesses left low-paid workers such as care workers, supermarket staff, warehouse, agricultural workers, and cleaners defenceless in the face of the rapidly spreading virus.

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and World Health Organisation (WHO), up to 20-30 per cent of COVID-19 cases may be attributed to exposure at work[1]. Business opposition to mandatory testing, inadequate remote working policies and above all the lack of provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) have only exacerbated the public health crisis.

Thus, the on-going COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges as well as opportunities for trade unions, social movements and progressive forces who want to put public health above private profits.

Research paper thumbnail of Book Review: Claire Ainsley (2018) The New Working Class: How to Win Hearts, Minds and Votes

Global Labour Journal, 2020

Whether Guy Standing’s books on the “precariat”, Didier Eribon’s recollections of struggling with... more Whether Guy Standing’s books on the “precariat”, Didier Eribon’s recollections of struggling with his working-class and gay identities, or the numerous books on the “white working class” published in the wake of Brexit and Trump, sociological discussions on social class are no longer frowned upon. While explicitly Marxist discussions on class as a social relation remain marginal, status group models and, in particular, culturalist explanations have gained in prominence in recent years. It is against this background that Claire Ainsley’s book The New Working Class: How to Win Hearts, Minds and Votes needs to be analysed.

Research paper thumbnail of " They called for workers but humans arrived " - Turkish guest worker struggles in West Germany in the 1970s

Research paper thumbnail of Migration as Class Struggle?

In this paper I want to investigate whether EU migration should be viewed in terms of collective ... more In this paper I want to investigate whether EU migration should be viewed in terms of collective action and a social movement or an individual act of resistance. Furthermore, as migrants’ class character is heterogeneous yet underlies the global division of labour, we need to ask ourselves whether migration to the EU possibly even amounts to a form of class struggle.

In Empire, Hardt and Negri they write: “A spectre haunts the world and it is the spectre of migration. All the powers of the old world are allies in a merciless operation against it, but the movement is irresistible” (Hardt & Negri, 2000:213). By implicitly referring to Marx’s ‘spectre of communism’ they elevate migration to a global social movement.

Moreover, a number of scholars have contended that migration is an act of resistance itself through which the migrant can transcend her/his gender and class position, for example (Bach, 2010; Munck, 2011). In this reading, migrants’ mobility then constitutes a form of power (Alberti, 2014:3). But how does one distinguish between individual acts of resistance and collective action?

En route to the EU and within its borders, migrants make use of social networks, family and mobilise other social bonds (ethnic, national, religious). According to Swider precarious migrants develop a type of “bounded solidarity” which upholds between migrants from the same towns, regions and possibly also from the same countries. This kind of solidarity also extends to those employers, businesses from the same country and draws upon old forms of kinship (Swider, 2014:50). What does this mean for how we understand the co-constructive dynamic of labour exploitation and being a migrant?

References
Alberti, G. (2014). Mobility strategies, “mobility differentials” and “transnational exit”: the experiences of precarious migrants in London’s hospitality jobs. Work, Employment & Society. doi:10.1177/0950017014528403
Bach, S. (2010). Managed migration?: nurse recruitment and the consequences of state policy. Industrial Relations Journal, 41(3), 249–266. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2338.2010.00567.x
Hardt, M., & Negri, A. (2000). Empire. (First Harv.). Cambrigde, MA & London, UK: Harvard University Press.
Munck, R. (2011). Beyond north and south: migration, informalization, and trade unin revitalization. WorkingUSA, 14(March), 5–18. doi:10.1111/j.1743-4580.2010.00317.x
Swider, S. (2014). Building China: precarious employment among migrant construction workers. Work, Employment & Society, 29(1), 41–59. doi:10.1177/0950017014526631

Research paper thumbnail of Beyond In/stability: Power and Polarisation in German Trade Unions

These are the slides to my presentation I gave at the Historical Materialism Conference in London... more These are the slides to my presentation I gave at the Historical Materialism Conference in London at the beginning of November 2015.

Research paper thumbnail of From 'forced mobility' to 'forced immobility' - The case of Spanish migrant care workers and nurses in Spain in Berlin

Official youth unemployment figures stand above 55 per cent in the Spanish state (Scarpetta, Sonn... more Official youth unemployment figures stand above 55 per cent in the Spanish state (Scarpetta, Sonnet, & Manfredi, 2010). For a while now, German chancellor Angela Merkel and Wolfgang Schäuble have openly argued that Spanish youth unemployment will be solved by moving to Germany (Evans, 2013). Bach has shown the way in which the state directly “manages migration” by devising recruitment policies for migrant nurses in the UK (Bach, 2010). However there is no existing literature on the German case.
As part of my PhD research on autonomous migrant groups and trade unions, I have been analysing the 15-M group in Berlin and their working group Gruppo Accion Syndical (GAS). In my participatory and ethnographic research I have discovered that German private nursing and care companies have been recruiting young Spanish women and men to come to work in the German care sector.
Unlike in the UK where the nurses can move freely between employers, Spanish nurses in Germany are forced to stay with the company for a minimum of two years or else pay a fine of up to 10,000 euros. Bloch has shown that the opportunities for female migrant workers to challenge the exploitation collectively are few. Thus, migrant women can potentially contest their own oppression (work and gender) through migration (A. Bloch et al., 2014:341-342) and hyper-mobility (Alberti, 2014; Munck, 2011) to overcome bad working conditions, and precarious employment. However this is not possible for Spanish nurses in Germany. So, what strategies of resistance have they turned to instead? And how do Spanish migrant nurses renegotiate ‘mobility’ in terms their experience?
References
Alberti, G. (2014). Mobility strategies, “mobility differentials” and “transnational exit”: the experiences of precarious migrants in London’s hospitality jobs. Work, Employment & Society. doi:10.1177/0950017014528403
Bach, S. (2010). Managed migration?: nurse recruitment and the consequences of state policy. Industrial Relations Journal, 41(3), 249–266. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2338.2010.00567.x
Bloch, A., Kumarappan, L., & Mckay, S. (2014). Women Migrants Today : New Directions , No Papers , Old Barriers, 17(September), 339–355.
Evans, S. (2013). Merkel tells young Europeans to move to find work. Retrieved June 12, 2015, from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-22906820
Munck, R. (2011). Trade Unions , Migration and Social Transformation, 236–251.
Scarpetta, S., Sonnet, A., & Manfredi, T. (2010, April 14). Rising Youth Unemployment During The Crisis. OECD Publishing. doi:10.1787/5kmh79zb2mmv-en

Research paper thumbnail of Ausländischer Arbeiter_innen im Aufstand in den 60ern/70ern

Der türkische Liedermacher Cem Karaca schrieb in einem seiner Songs: „Es wurden Arbeiter gerufen,... more Der türkische Liedermacher Cem Karaca schrieb in einem seiner Songs: „Es wurden Arbeiter gerufen, doch es kamen Menschen an“.

Als die ersten Gastarbeiter_innen in den 1950ern nach Deutschland kamen, galten sie als ‚tüchtig‘ und ‚gehorsam‘. Als der einmillionenster Gastarbeiter Armando Rodrigues de Sà 1964 aus Portugal am Deutzer Bahnhof ankam, erhielt er ein Mofa und lächelte brav in die Fernsehkameras des WDR. Doch der Schein trügte.

Während türkische Männer in Firmen-Wohnheimen unterkamen, wurden viele griechische Ehepartner in verschiedene Städte entsandt. Vermieter wollten keine Gastarbeiter_innen und in der Fabrik wurden sie für gleiche Arbeit schlechter entlohnt.

Im Folge der Studierendenrevolte von 1968, wilden Streiks und Bewegungen gegen Diktatur und Kapital in ihren Heimatländern, spitzte sich die Lage unter den Gastarbeiter_innen im Rheinland im Sommer 1973 zu.

Die Frauen beim Automobilzulieferer Pierburg in Neuss forderten bei ihrem ‚wilden Streik‘ eine Mark mehr und die Abschaffung der Leichtlohngruppe 1. Hin dessen, kam es auch zu einem ‚wilden Streik‘ türkischer Arbeiter bei Ford-Niehl, nachdem einige Arbeiter zu spät aus dem Urlaub zurückkehrten. Von der BILD-Zeitung als ‘Türkenterror’ denunziert, richtete sich der Streik gegen Arbeitgeber und Gewerkschaften, die nur unzureichend diese Arbeiter vertrat.

Waren diese Streiks letztlich erfolgreich? Kommt zu dem SDS-Treffen und lasst uns gemeinsam über die Ereignisse des Sommers 1973 lernen und reden. Was können wir von diesen Streiks für heute lernen? Was bedeutet diese Geschichte für uns als Linke und Aktivist_innen?

Research paper thumbnail of The shape of social movements and activism today

These are the slides to a talk I held at the University of Essex's very own 'Radical Forum' in la... more These are the slides to a talk I held at the University of Essex's very own 'Radical Forum' in late 2013.

Research paper thumbnail of Young and precarious – understanding their self-organisation, the possibilities and implications for trade union organisation

This paper seeks to understand the extent to which young people’s precarious position and activis... more This paper seeks to understand the extent to which young people’s precarious position and activism in neoliberal austerity challenges trade unions to re-think their practices. It forms part of the author’s on-going PhD research into precarious Southern European migrants’ self-organisation and the possibilities for trade union organisation.

The first section discusses the different accounts on precarity and precariousness found in social theory (Lorey 2015; Standing 2011; Sennett 1999), industrial relations (Doogan 2012; UCU 2015; Heery & Salmon 2000; Pollert & Charlwood 2009), social movements literature (Raunig 2007, Candeias & Völpel 2014) and popular/journalistic accounts (Mason 2011; Perlin 2011) to show that (1) there is a large overlap between being young and precarious but they are not synonymous (2) that industrial relations scholars and trade unions needs to include its effect on citizenship rights and culture to understand the way in which precarisation is “re-making the working class” (3) that this reconfigures young people’s agency (Handlungsfähigkeit) and hence facilitates the new forms of sociality, activism and collective action around work and precarity.

In the second section, the author analyses young people’s activism against the different phenomena associated with precarity (EuroMayDay, precarious workers’ unions, student protests). Based on participant observation as part of his ethnographic research, he pays particular attention to student movements’ and precarious workers groups’ practices (occupation, metropolitan strike, horizontalism) and their relationship to the official trade union movement. Drawing on Rucht (2004), he distinguishes between antagonism, abstention, absorption/adpatation, agonism, accommodation, alternatives. He compares these with union’s youth strategies discussed in the industrial relations literature (Holzschuh, 2014; Vandaele 2013; Pollert & Tailby 506; Simms 2012; Kretsos 2014; Hodder 2014; Panagiatpoulos 2012) and identifies their strengths/limitations and possible points of convergence in organising these new actors.

Research paper thumbnail of Trade union organising amongst Migrant Workers: The example of 15-M GAS, Berlin

This presentation was part of a panel discussion on organising young Spanish migrant workers at t... more This presentation was part of a panel discussion on organising young Spanish migrant workers at the Marx is Muss Congress in Berlin, Germany.

The presentation is part of my on-going research into precarious work, new forms of worker organisation, social movements and trade unions.

Research paper thumbnail of The precariat, precarious workers or a class fraction in the making?

Are all young people precarious? Is the ‘precariat’ a new social class? How can we organise as yo... more Are all young people precarious? Is the ‘precariat’ a new social class? How can we organise as young and precarious workers? What forms of power do precarious workers have? In this talk, Mark Bergfeld will discuss the strengths and limitations of ‘precarity’ and Guy Standing’s concept of “the precariat” to understand young people’s position in neoliberal austerity regimes. Based on his activist research with Greek, Spanish and Portuguese activists and precarious worker activists, he argues that the reconfiguration of people’s agency represents the “re-making of the working class”, and offers some examples of successful ways to organise against precarity.

Research paper thumbnail of Leaderless leaders? Southern European Migrant Activism Against Austerity in London

Contemporary social movements in Europe such as the occupation of Syntagma Square in Athens, the ... more Contemporary social movements in Europe such as the occupation of Syntagma Square in Athens, the indignados protests in the Spanish State and the Que Se Lixe a Troika movement in Portugal, have been labelled “leaderless” (Penny 2010, Mason 2011, Castells 2012, Juris 2013, Graeber 2013). It in this context that newly arrived Southern European migrants in London have adopted this label for their activism. The author does not accept the label as an adequate explanation of the complex relationship between protest organisers, movement- activists and the social movements they participate in. Through the use of participant observation and in-depth interviews, he seeks to analyse (1) how do Southern European activists make sense of leadership and “leaderlessness”; (2) what socio-economic and political factors contribute to the rejection of leadership amongst Southern European migrant activists; and (3) what function do these activists perform in the wider migrant community, and within social and labour movements in Britain. The author finds that there are different overlapping typologies of leaderships – both relational and skill-based - in the anti-austerity groups of newly arrived migrants in London. While these activists may reject the label of “leader” they perform functions akin to that of a leader within the wider migrant community and trade unions. However complex and contradictory the findings, this paper and the on-going PhD project make a unique contribution to the study of leadership and the diffusion of movement practices in the context of anti-austerity protests throughout Europe.

Research paper thumbnail of From ‘Forced Mobility’ to ‘Forced Immobility’: The Case of Spanish Migrant Nurses in the German Care Industry

This paper deals with the crisis in the German care industry and the resistance by Spanish migran... more This paper deals with the crisis in the German care industry and the resistance by Spanish migrant nurses and care workers. In the context of the labour shortage in the German care industry and the way that care companies have sought to manage the crisis through a triple process of precarisation of the workforce, import of migrant labour and anti-union activities. Rather than successfully solving the crisis, this has only facilitated a rise of new forms of resistance in the health and care sector which in many ways parallels tendencies which we witness in other countries. Based on participant observation and in-depth interviews with activists, this paper then argues that we find a double-reconfiguration of Spanish care workers’ and nurses’ precarity and mobility in the context of a labour shortage in the German care industry. This is epitomised by undermining workers’ labour mobility power by giving them fixed-term three year contracts and charging them penalty fees of up to 8000 euros if they leave the job prior. In response, this paper argues that there is a reciprocal relationship between organisational power of workers and labour mobility power, and that the 15-M GAS’s conflict-based unionism might embed itself in the wider social and labour movements yet runs up against the limits of the social partnership given their institutional and structural weakness.

Research paper thumbnail of Draft of Book Review: Terry Eagleton - Why Marx was right

This review is a lengthy version of the book review which appeared in Rethinking Marxism. I actua... more This review is a lengthy version of the book review which appeared in Rethinking Marxism. I actually prefer this version as it goes into the various arguments.

Research paper thumbnail of Contested 'Community': Community Organising, Labour-Community Coalitions and The Limits of Trade Union Organising Strategies

Research paper thumbnail of William J Baumol's 'Sideward Step': Routinised Innovation and the Limits of Capitalist Growth

Research paper thumbnail of Book Review: We are Many & The Democracy Project

Research paper thumbnail of Martin Bak Jørgensen and Óscar García Agustín (eds)  Solidarity without Borders: Gramscian Perspectives on Migration and Civil Society Alliances Pluto Press, London, 2016. 240pp., £12.99 pb ISBN ISBN 9780745336312

Marx & Philosophy Review of Books

Largely written before these events had wholly unfolded, Agustín’s and Jørgensen’s edited volume ... more Largely written before these events had wholly unfolded, Agustín’s and Jørgensen’s edited volume Solidarity without Borders: Gramscian Perspectives on Migration and Civil Society takes these two divergent social trends as a starting point to deal with the question of migration, solidarity and civil society empirically, theoretically and historically. The book is divided into four parts with the first chapter of each part giving a theoretical exegesis. The first part deals with the heterogeneity of different political actors involved in civil society alliances. The second part deals with these solidarity alliances across and around borders. The third part deals with so-called misplaced alliances (which I will turn to later) and what the editors identify as the “crisis of solidarity”. The fourth part focuses on the spaces of resistance and the continuity between the anti-austerity mobilizations of 2011 and today’s solidarity movements with refugees.

Research paper thumbnail of Mario Candeias & Eva Völpel (2014) Plätze sichern! Re-Organisierung der Linken in der Krise. Zur Lernfähigkeit des Mosaiks in den USA, Spanien und Griechenland.

This is a book review I wrote for the German magazine marx21 which is part of the German left-win... more This is a book review I wrote for the German magazine marx21 which is part of the German left-wing party, Die Linke. The review is in German

Research paper thumbnail of Marxism and Social Movements - Colin Barker et al (2013)

Research paper thumbnail of Lars T. Lih Lenin

Lars Lih’s essay offers a short yet comprehensive historical account of Lenin’s thirty years as a... more Lars Lih’s essay offers a short yet comprehensive historical account of Lenin’s thirty years as a revolutionary, from his workings in the illegal Marxist reading circles to his years as a world revolutionary leader of the Communist International. Structured as a drama in three Acts with Lenin as the tragic hero of world revolution in the twentieth century, Lih offers a surprisingly fresh and witty account which neither deems Lenin a ruthless opportunist nor falls into the kind of dogmatism of the Stalinist era bygone.

Research paper thumbnail of 	Luis Suarez-Villa Technocapitalism: A Critical Perspective on Technological Innovation and Corporatism

In his latest book, Technocapitalism: A Critical Perspective on Technological Innovation and Corp... more In his latest book, Technocapitalism: A Critical Perspective on Technological Innovation and Corporatism, Luis Suarez-Villa deals with a new phase of capitalism and provides some tentative answers about where the system is heading.

Research paper thumbnail of Why Marx Was Right, by Terry Eagleton

In this book review, the author argues that Terry Eagleton's Why Marx Was Right addresses pertine... more In this book review, the author argues that Terry Eagleton's Why Marx Was Right addresses pertinent questions in relation to the Marxist concept of social class and oppression. In doing so, he shows that Marxism ought to be conceived as a method, if it ought to have any future whatsoever. He concludes that Eagleton's book makes a valuable contribution to lift Marxism from the margins into the mainstream.

Research paper thumbnail of Bergfeld, Mark, October 2013, The Role of Anarchists in Occupy - Review Essay, Contention Vol.1, Issue1

Contention Journal, Oct 2013

Research paper thumbnail of Book Review: Alice Mattoni - Media Practices and Protest Politics (How Precarious Workers Mobilise)

Research paper thumbnail of The COP-15 & The Emergence of the Climate Justice Movement

In this paper the author utilizes his own experience as an activist in the climate justice moveme... more In this paper the author utilizes his own experience as an activist in the climate justice movement and his participation in the protests, actions and events around the COP-15 in Copenhagen to analyze to what extent the politics of those involved in the climate justice movement in the Global North benefit or impede its development. Hereby, he draws upon Barker’s and Tilly’s definitions and conceptualisations of social movements. Particular emphasis is given to the fact that social movements are distinct from organisations yet that organisations play a role within these movements.
Central to his analysis he critically evaluates to what extent the actors conceptions of climate justice impact upon their political practices and the wider movement. By extending his inquiry to NGOs, state actors, autonomists and socialists ‘climate justice’ no longer remains an ambiguous term or solely a political discourse but ultimately finds its expression in the events surrounding Copenhagen.
He looks at the various concepts of climate justice to determine which offers the best possibility of uniting broad sections of society in a movement against climate change. The question whether alternative conceptions of climate justice aid in building a broad and effective movement against climate change in the Global North is at the centre of his analysis. He concludes that agency must play a role in building a movement against climate change in the Global North. Trade unions and the organized working-class can fulfil that role in times of economic and ecological crises.
The research questions are as follow: 1) To what extent to the politics of those involved in the climate justice movement in the Global North benefit or impede its development. 2) To what extent do their conceptions of climate justice impact upon their political practice and the wider movement? 3) Can alternative conceptions of climate justice aid in building a broad and effective movement against climate change in the Global North?

Research paper thumbnail of Leaderless leaders? Southern European Activism in London

Contemporary social movements in Europe such as the occupation of Syntagma Square in Athens, the ... more Contemporary social movements in Europe such as the occupation of Syntagma Square in Athens, the indignados protests in the Spanish State and the Que Se Lixe a Troika movement in Portugal, have been labelled “leaderless” (Penny 2010, Mason 2011, Castells 2012, Juris 2013, Graeber 2013). It in this context that newly arrived Southern European migrants in London have adopted this label for their activism. The author does not accept the label as an adequate explanation of the complex relationship between protest organisers, movement- activists and the social movements they participate in. Through the use of participant observation and in-depth interviews, he seeks to analyse (1) how do Southern European activists make sense of leadership and “leaderlessness”; (2) what socio-economic and political factors contribute to the rejection of leadership amongst Southern European migrant activists; and (3) what function do these activists perform in the wider migrant community, and within social and labour movements in Britain. The author finds that there are different overlapping typologies of leaderships – both relational and skill-based - in contemporary social movement organisations of newly arrived migrants in London. While these activists may reject the label of “leader” they perform functions akin to that of a leader within the wider migrant community and trade unions. However complex and contradictory the findings, this dissertation project make a unique contribution to the study of leadership in contemporary social movements and trade unions.

Keywords: Migration, Social Movements, Trade Unions, Leadership, Leaderlessness, Eurozone Crisis

Research paper thumbnail of Vom individuellen zum kollektiv organisierten Widerstand?  Erfahrungen einer spanischen Migrantin in der privaten Pflege in Deutschland (From individual to collective resistance? Experiences of a Spanish migrant in the private care sector in Germany)

Sorge-Kämpfe. Auseinandersetzungen um Arbeit in sozialen Dienstleistungen, Ingrid Artus / Peter Birke / Stefan Kerber-Clasen / Wolfgang Menz (Hrsg.) (336 Seiten | Oktober 2017 | EUR 26.80 | ISBN 978-3-89965-766-1, 2017

The following German-language book chpater seeks to address the question how individual and colle... more The following German-language book chpater seeks to address the question how individual and collective forms of resistance against unfair labour practices come together in the case of Spanish migrant care workers in Germany. How can migrant workers without trade union representation defend their interests? By offering a perspective from the point of migrant workers themselves, this paper seeks to understand Germany's labour shortage and alternatives.
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Es herrscht Pflegenotstand in Deutschland. Bedürftigen Menschen steht nicht annähernd genügend Pflegepersonal zur Verfügung (Dowideit 2016). Dies mag einer der Gründe dafür sein, dass spanische Krankenpfleger_innen für eine geraume Zeit in den deutschen Medien so präsent waren (…) Im Folgenden wird der Frage nachgegangen, wie sich individuelle und kollektive Formen des Widerstands gegen als ungerecht empfundene Arbeitsbedingungen bei spanischen Migrant_innen in der Pflege verbinden lassen. Wie können migrantische Beschäftigte, die zunächst oft keine gewerkschaftliche Anbindung haben, ihre Interessen wahren? Dabei sollen vor allem spanische Migrant_innen selbst zu Wort kommen, um eine Perspektive zu ermöglichen, die auch in der linken Öffentlichkeit oft zu kurz kommt.

Research paper thumbnail of Germany: In the eye of the storm

Europe in Revolt: Mapping the New European Left (Haymarket), 2017

This is the proof version of my book chapter on Germany, its social movements and the left for th... more This is the proof version of my book chapter on Germany, its social movements and the left for the book "Europe in Revolt: Mapping the New European Left"

Research paper thumbnail of GERMANY: IN THE EYE OF STORM

Europe in Revolt , 2016

This is the pre-print and unedited version of the book chapter Germany: In the eye of the storm w... more This is the pre-print and unedited version of the book chapter Germany: In the eye of the storm which was published in the collection Europe in Revolt (Haymarket) edited by Catarina Principe & Bhaskar Sunkara

Please support Jacobin and Haymarket's efforts by buying this affordable book: http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Europe-in-Revolt

Research paper thumbnail of "You're either a flower in the dustbin or that spark that lights the fire": On Student Protests and Precarity

Academic Labour, Unemployment and Global Higher Education Neoliberal Policies of Funding and Management, May 28, 2016

Academic Labour, Unemployment and Global Higher Education Neoliberal Policies of Funding and Mana... more Academic Labour, Unemployment and Global Higher Education
Neoliberal Policies of Funding and Management

Editors: Gupta, Suman, Habjan, Jernej, Tutek, Hrvoje (Eds.)

This book explores how the kinds of world-wide restructurings of higher education and research work that are underway today have not only increased employment insecurity in academia but may actually be producing unemployment both for those within academia and for graduate job-seekers in other sectors. Recent and current re-organisations of higher education and research work, and re-orientations of academic life (as students, researchers, teachers) generally, which are taking place around the world, achieve exactly the opposite of what they claim: though ostensibly undertaken to facilitate employment, these moves actually produce unemployment both for those within academia and for graduate job-seekers in other sectors.

Please order the book for your University library:

Bibliographic Information
Book Title
Academic Labour, Unemployment and Global Higher Education
Book Subtitle
Neoliberal Policies of Funding and Management
Editors
Suman Gupta
Jernej Habjan
Hrvoje Tutek
Series Title
Palgrave Critical University Studies
Copyright
2016
Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan UK
Copyright Holder
The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)
eBook ISBN
978-1-137-49324-8
DOI
10.1057/978-1-137-49324-8
Hardcover ISBN
978-1-137-49323-1
Edition Number
1

Research paper thumbnail of Bergfeld, Mark (2015) Rosa Luxemburg, The Palgrave Enyclopedia of Imperialism & Anti-Imperialism (pre-print)

Encyclopedia of Imperialism & Anti-Imperialism, Nov 10, 2015

This is the pre-print version of the encylcopedic entry on Rosa Luxemburg for the Palgrave Enyclo... more This is the pre-print version of the encylcopedic entry on Rosa Luxemburg for the Palgrave Enyclopedia of Imperialism & Anti-Imperialism (Oct2015)

Research paper thumbnail of No Gods, no Masters … no Leaders? The Role of ‘anarchists’ in Occupy

Contemporary Protest and the Legacy of Dissent, 2014

It has been a common sense assumption to emphasise the ‘leaderless’, ‘horizontal’, ‘networked’ an... more It has been a common sense assumption to emphasise the ‘leaderless’, ‘horizontal’, ‘networked’ and ‘a-political’ nature of the Occupy movement of late 2011 (Penny 2011, Mason 2011, Castells 2012). However recent literature such as Laura Khatib’s We Are Many: Reflections on Movement Strategy – From Occupation to Liberation (2013) and David Graeber’s The Democracy Project (2013) explore the role that anarchists played inside of the Occupy movement of 2011.
In this chapter, I seek to answer to what extent anarchists shaped and are shaped by the Occupy encampments strategically, politically and ideologically. I analyse their organisational practices i.e. consensus decision-making and their demands, or lack thereof, to better understand how these political actors make sense of questions of strategy inside a mass movement against financial capitalism.
I employ a Marxist framework of social movement theory (Barker 2012, Barker 2013) to gain insight and understanding into how this round of actions and events did not rise out of nowhere. They involved co-ordination and coalition building, paying attention to pre-existing social ties, mobilising structures and social networks. Furthermore, I treat social movements as heterogeneous and arenas of class struggle in which different class interests are articulated by different political actors such as anarchists.
Anarchist practices vary inside of movements (Blackledge 2010). For example, the popular slogan ‘Occupy Everything Demand Nothing’ (Communiqués from Occupied California) and calls for a ‘debt jubilee’ (Graeber 2013) stand in clear contradistinction to one another. The accounts in much of the anarchist literature also show that the concept of ‘leadership’ is a rather contested one (Occupy Research in Khatib 2013). How do anarchists develop strategy through Occupy?
This chapter makes a unique contribution to understanding class strategies against the crisis and 'austerity'. Analysing the driving force behind the Occupy protests can teach lessons about similar networked movements over the last two years.

Research paper thumbnail of Georgy Lukacs - History and Class Consciousness

Research paper thumbnail of Young and Precarious – Understanding Their Self-Organisation, the Possibilities and Implications for Trade Union Organisation

This paper seeks to understand the extent to which young people’s precarious position and activis... more This paper seeks to understand the extent to which young people’s precarious position and activism in neoliberal austerity challenges trade unions to re-think their practices. It forms part of the author’s on-going PhD research into precarious Southern European migrants’ self-organisation and the possibilities for trade union organisation.
The first section discusses the different accounts on precarity and precariousness found in social theory (Lorey 2015; Standing 2011; Sennett 1999), industrial relations (Doogan 2012; UCU 2015; Heery & Salmon 2000; Pollert & Charlwood 2009), social movements literature (Raunig 2007, Candeias & Völpel 2014) and popular/journalistic accounts (Mason 2011; Perlin 2011) to show that (1) there is a large overlap between being young and precarious but they are not synonymous (2) that industrial relations scholars and trade unions needs to include its effect on citizenship rights and culture to understand the way in which precarisation is “re-making the working class” (3) that this reconfigures young people’s agency (Handlungsfähigkeit) and hence facilitates the new forms of sociality, activism and collective action around work and precarity.
In the second section, the author analyses young people’s activism against the different phenomena associated with precarity (EuroMayDay, precarious workers’ unions, student protests). Based on participant observation as part of his ethnographic research, he pays particular attention to student movements’ and precarious workers groups’ practices (occupation, metropolitan strike, horizontalism) and their relationship to the official trade union movement. Drawing on Rucht (2004), he distinguishes between antagonism, abstention, absorption/adpatation, agonism, accommodation, alternatives. He compares these with union’s youth strategies discussed in the industrial relations literature (Holzschuh, 2014; Vandaele 2013; Pollert & Tailby 506; Simms 2012; Kretsos 2014; Hodder 2014; Panagiatpoulos 2012) and identifies their strengths/limitations and possible points of convergence in organising these new actors.

Research paper thumbnail of Talk: The Precariat, precarious workers or class fraction in the making?

Are all young people precarious? Is the ‘precariat’ a new social class? How can we organise as yo... more Are all young people precarious? Is the ‘precariat’ a new social class? How can we organise as young and precarious workers? What forms of power do precarious workers have? In this talk, Mark Bergfeld will discuss the strengths and limitations of ‘precarity’ and Guy Standing’s concept of “the precariat” to understand young people’s position in neoliberal austerity regimes. Based on his activist research with Greek, Spanish and Portuguese activists and precarious worker activists, he argues that the reconfiguration of people’s agency represents the “re-making of the working class”, and offers some examples of successful ways to organise against precarity.

This talk was held at Smalands Nation, Lund, Sweden on May 9, 2015.

Research paper thumbnail of Panel Discussion - Migrant Worker Organising: The Gruppo Accion Syndical (GAS) and the 15-M Movement in Berlin, Germany

This panel discussion on migrant worker organising was part of the Marx is' Muss Congress in Berl... more This panel discussion on migrant worker organising was part of the Marx is' Muss Congress in Berlin, Germany on 15 May 2015.

The fellow panelists were Marta Cazorla and Miguel Sanz Alcantara.

Research paper thumbnail of Obstáculo para protestas en el Reino Unido

Published on Nov 16, 2013 En el Reino Unido, un proyecto de ley plantea entregarle poderes a los ... more Published on Nov 16, 2013
En el Reino Unido, un proyecto de ley plantea entregarle poderes a los ayuntamientos y autoridades municipales, para prohibir las protestas si incomodan a los vecinos. Activistas critican que esta ley pone en peligro la democracia.

Manifestaciones pacíficas podrían ser prohibidas por los ayuntamientos británicos, bajo el pretexto de que puedan causar molestia o incomodidad a los residentes de la zona.

Las autoridades municipales podrían recibir este amplio poder a través de la nueva "Ley de conducta antisocial, crimen y patrullaje policial", que actualmente está siendo debatida en el Parlamento.

Mark Bergfeld es un activista anti austeridad también involucrado en el movimiento estudiantil.

Si esta ley es aprobada, los ayuntamientos podrían prohibir protestas como la que se inició aquí en la Catedral de San Pablo en octubre de 2011, la del movimiento Ocupa Londres, una protesta que estuvo impulsada por la desigualdad económica y la influencia de corporaciones sobre el gobierno.

El Reino Unido tiene una tradición de activismo en la calle, que últimamente ha visto su cúspide con las protestas estudiantiles, las de sindicatos, las de maestros y empleados del sector salud y las del movimiento anti-austeridad.

Muchos creen que a través de esta ley el gobierno buscará aspaciguar las crecientes expresiones de descontento en la calle.

El Ministerio del Interior dice que esta ley tiene el objetivo de proteger los espacios públicos, y rescatar lo que llaman "zonas prohibidas" donde se presentan problemas de conducta antisocial.

Pero para muchos esto no tiene nada que ver con el derecho a la protesta que podría verse coartado a través de esta ley.

El grupo de HispanTV les recuerda a los seguidores de nuestra página en Youtube de que en el caso de que no se suban nuevos vídeos, en 48 horas, esto significa que el lobby sionista ha bloqueado el acceso de este canal a su cuenta en YouTube. De ser así, haga Clic en el siguiente enlace para obtener nuestra nueva dirección en YouTube:

Research paper thumbnail of Students Demonstrate Against UK Tuition Hikes

Uploaded on Nov 24, 2010 For more news visit ☛ http://english.ntdtv.com Violence breaks out in c... more Uploaded on Nov 24, 2010
For more news visit ☛ http://english.ntdtv.com

Violence breaks out in central London as students hold a demonstration. Thousands of students protested across Britain against government plans to raise university tuition fees.

In central London, near parliament, small groups of protesters threw signs at officers and attacked police vans. Some had also set on fire posters of British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Cameron's spokesperson said that people have the right to engage in lawful and peaceful protest, but there is no place for violence or intimidation.

Police say three people were arrested in the capital for violent disorder.

At universities, schools and colleges, young people staged walkouts in a national day of action, against government proposals to almost triple tuition charges to up to US $14,500 a year.

[Mark Bergfeld, London University Student]:
"We must say that the damage done by thousands of young kids does not anywhere come close to the damage which is being done by the Con-Dem (Conservative-Liberal Democrats) government in this country. The Con-Dem government in this country is decimating higher education, is decimating the welfare state, and is imposing an austerity agenda. They have no mandate to cut, and the broken futures, the broken futures of generations to come is in no way compared to a few broken windows."

Two weeks ago, protesters stormed a building that houses a Conservative Party headquarters in London.

It was the first major demonstration directly linked to the US $130 billion spending cuts announced by the coalition last month.

Students feel betrayed by the coalition government -- in particular, by junior partner, the Liberal Democrat party, which had promised to vote against higher tuition fees.

Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg told the BBC that he "massively regrets" breaking his election promise.

He urged students to look at his education proposals in detail, arguing that eventually graduates will be paying less per month than they do now, and the poorest quarter will be paying much less.

There is a noticeably larger police presence on the capital's streets than two weeks ago.

Lines of policemen form human barriers across streets in Whitehall, the heart of British government.

Research paper thumbnail of The Report Episode 146 | Part 1/3 (23/12/14) - Germany: 18,000 in Anti-Islam Rally in Dresden

Published on Jan 7, 2015 The issue of immigration as well as anti-Islam rhetoric is making headli... more Published on Jan 7, 2015
The issue of immigration as well as anti-Islam rhetoric is making headlines in Germany. Protests took place last Monday in the town of Dresden with estimates of 15,000 people attending. Yesterday, this increased to nearly 18,000 people taking to the streets to show their dismay at the political class and supposed ‘Islamification’ of the country.

Joining Yasmin Khatun to discuss whether or not we should be worried about these rallies is freelance journalist and campaigner Mark Bergfeld.

Research paper thumbnail of The Report Episode 154 | Part 1/3 (06/01/15) - Germany: Anti-Islam Rallies Across the Country

Published on Jan 7, 2015 Islamophobic rallies in the German city of Dresden have been attracting ... more Published on Jan 7, 2015
Islamophobic rallies in the German city of Dresden have been attracting increasing numbers over the last couple of weeks. The organisers are called the ‘Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West', PEGIDA, and they demand an end to what they claim is the growing influence of immigrants and Islam in Germany. They have, however, been met by a growing number of even larger counter-demonstrations.

Joining John Rees to discuss the situation is Emine Aslan, an anti racism activist at Schauhin; and freelance journalist and campaigner, Mark Bergfeld.

Research paper thumbnail of Banned chemical weapon for use in UK?

Uploaded on Feb 9, 2012 The UK government may consider the development of chemical weapons for do... more Uploaded on Feb 9, 2012
The UK government may consider the development of chemical weapons for domestic law enforcement, that's according to the national academy of sciences. The group of experts has asked UK officials to clarify their intentions for the substances. The nerve gases being discussed were banned from military use nearly 20 years ago. For more RT talks to Mark Bergfeld from the Education Activist Network in Britain.

Research paper thumbnail of Second nationwide student demonstration kicks off

24th November 2010 Thousands of students have marched through the streets of London -- and indee... more 24th November 2010

Thousands of students have marched through the streets of London -- and indeed in other major cities around the UK, against planned cuts to higher education funding proposed by the government.

Research paper thumbnail of One in nine Berliners want go back to E.Germany, bring wall back

Published on Nov 6, 2014 According to a poll by a Berlin University, one in nine people in the ca... more Published on Nov 6, 2014
According to a poll by a Berlin University, one in nine people in the capital want to return to the times of East Germany and are in favour of bringing back the infamous Wall. Writer and freelance journalist Mark Bergfeld joins RT to discuss the growing nostalgia for East Germany.

Research paper thumbnail of Mark Bergfeld defends the 'Day X' student protests on Daybreak

Mark Bergfeld, spokesperson for the Education Activist Network, defends the 'Day X' student prote... more Mark Bergfeld, spokesperson for the Education Activist Network, defends the 'Day X' student protests in London.

Broadcast on ITV1 Daybreak, 25 November 2010.

Research paper thumbnail of The first 100 days of UKIP (Channel4)

Published on Feb 19, 2015 Content property of Channel 4. A ground-breaking and provocative ... more Published on Feb 19, 2015
Content property of Channel 4.

A ground-breaking and provocative fictional documentary, from the makers of Cyberbully, set in a fabricated future where UKIP have won the 2015 general election and Nigel Farage is Prime Minister.

Research paper thumbnail of Rebel Yell (Teil 2) - Protestkultur im öffentlichen Raum (arte)

arte Germany

Published on Aug 20, 2012 Der öffentliche Raum war schon immer von jeher der Raum für Protest. D... more Published on Aug 20, 2012
Der öffentliche Raum war schon immer von jeher der Raum für Protest. Dies hat sich auch im digitalen Zeitalter nicht wesentlich geändert. Wer es nicht schafft die Menschen für den Protest auf die Straße zu bringen, hat es schwer politische Missstände nachhaltig anzuprangern und Politiker zum Handeln zu bewegen ...
Missstände gibt es genug wie steigende Mieten, mangelnde Demokratie und Meinungsfreiheit, Sexismus, Rassismus und mehr ...

Research paper thumbnail of Student Activism Film 2011 (Independent Documentary)

Aug 22, 2011 I follow Mark Bergfeld to gain insight into activism and the stuggle against the co... more Aug 22, 2011
I follow Mark Bergfeld to gain insight into activism and the stuggle against the coalition cuts on the public sector with a particular focus on the education reforms made, 12 October 2010.

A film by Romina Richardson

Research paper thumbnail of Beyond in/stability: Power and Polarisation in German Trade Unions

Already before Wolfgang Streeck’s opinion piece on the recent strike wave in Germany (Streeck, 20... more Already before Wolfgang Streeck’s opinion piece on the recent strike wave in Germany (Streeck, 2015), a number of authors have drawn attention to shifts and changes in Germany’s industrial relations system (Bieler & Erne, 2014; Brinkmann & Nachtwey, 2013; Dribbusch, 2013).
In this presentation, I want to contribute to this discussion by looking at the growing polarisation between the industrial unions (IG Metall, IG BAU, IG BCE) in the export-led sectors and unions in the services and public sector (ver.di, GEW). This polarisation has been under-theorised in the current debates on German industrial relations and workers’ movements.
By comparing the way in which services unions and industrial unions have responded to the financial and economic crisis, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), and the new labour law – ‘the Tarifeinheitsgesetz’ – passed in mid-May, I hope to disclose the stabilizing functions of German industrial unions, the extent to which Germany’s industrial unions are tying their fate to German export-led growth and Germany’s political hegemonic position in Europe.
By comparing organising and strike efforts it becomes apparent that the German model of stagnant wages, low internal demand and high precarious employment (DGB, 2013; Glaubitz, 2010) is forcing the services and public sector unions into new confrontations and to take non-routinised forms of industrial action. This is epitomised by the nine-week long strike of pre-school educators in 2009 and their on-going strike in 2015, the strikes in retail and care.
This presentation thus can make a contribution to understanding Germany’s role in the Eurozone crisis, the stabilizing nature of unions as capital seeks to reconfigure the state and the way that alternatives can emerge from new fractions within the working class.

Research paper thumbnail of The COVID 19 Crisis and the End of the Low skilled Worker – Spectre Journal

Spectre Journal, 2020

The COVID-19 crisis is causing working class people lots of pain and suffering. Beyond the deaths... more The COVID-19 crisis is causing working class people lots of pain and suffering. Beyond the deaths of loved ones, unemployment and income insecurity are creating an uncertain future. But the crisis is also leading to some quite contradictory (and potentially interesting) outcomes in the world of work. Right in front of our eyes, the COVID-19 crisis is dissolving the foundations upon which the traditional division of labor between intellectual and manual labor was based. In particular, this crisis is interrogating the legitimacy of that skills-hierarchy that places at the bottom all those skills and jobs that are necessary for the reproduction of life and society.