Presentation short abstract

Through a study of the intersection between migrant labour coming from the Global South and energy decarbonisation in Spain, this paper highlights the centrality of the spatio-temporal dynamics of capital, labour regimes and labour organising in the (im)mobilisation and influence of eco-precariat.

Presentation long abstract

The expansion of offshore wind energy capital in Galicia, Spain, is inextricably linked to the existence of an eco-precariat largely formed by migrant workers from the Global South who are either employed in the manufacturing of monopiles and jackets or affected by offshore wind farms due to their employment in the coastal fisheries sector. Drawing on a five-month fieldwork research in this Spanish region, this paper explores three different aspects of such intimate connection: a) the relationship between the development of offshore wind energy capital and the labour regimes of migrant workers intersecting with this type of energy decarbonisation; b) processes of mobilization, immobilisation and demobilisation by migrant workers in this context; and c) the socio-spatial relations migrant workers establish with unions and migrant associations when mobilizing around their labour conditions. The paper highlights how, despite migrant workers’ agency manifesting through numerous reactions to exploitation and the disposability of labour-power, their ability to influence labour mobilisations and challenge the terms of exploitation and maritime spatial transformations associated to offshore wind farms is inseparable from spatio-temporal dynamics, including those of capital in the offshore wind energy industry, those of migrant labour regimes and those of labour organizing. The collective power of this eco-precariat is constantly being shaped by time pressures imposed by capital, the temporality of migrant employment in this context, migrant workers’ mobility as sellers of labour-power, territorial relations between unions and them, the scales of resistance and the development of a sense of place by migrant workers.