Paper short abstract:

In this paper, based on anthropological fieldwork and having briefly sketched the background of Greek Unionized movement, I will explore the workers' representations on the matter, the content of the notion of solidarity as well as the role Unions may play in the so called post-industrial era.

Paper long abstract:

Within a neo-liberally oriented framework favouring adverse social incorporation, deregulated labour relations and massive layoffs, contemporary workers experience the gradual disappearance of standard employment and the advent of its casual and insecure forms as well as the emergence of vulnerable social relationships, threatening not just their material survival but also their identity and whole life. In this connection nowadays the notion of organized collectivity as the expression of a common claim aiming at getting basic and fundamental rights is at a serious crossroad. This is because unions, especially in the Greek case, have to make a decision on the way they will choose to represent workers' rights, that is, either they will manage the current humanitarian crisis due to economic recession or they will put an effort to become more democratic and socially sensitive succeeding thus in mobilizing more workers to organize struggle. In this paper, based on anthropological fieldwork and after having briefly sketched the background of Greek Unionized movement, I will explore the workers' representations on the matter, the content of the notion of solidarity as well as the role Unions may play in the so called post-industrial era.