When Corporatism Fails: Trade Union Strategies and Grassroots Resistance to the Spanish Economic Crisis

Abstract

This article analyses the fragmented working class struggles that emerged in Spain after the eruption of the economic crisis in 2008–2010. Through the use of qualitative methods, such as in-depth interviews and activist participant observation, the article traces the progressive institutionalization of the major Spanish trade unions—Comisiones Obreras and Union General de Trabajadores—, which during the crisis have prioritized the defense of social dialog over the adoption of more radical strategies. The article argues that the incapacity of institutionalized trade unions to organize an increasing proportion of displaced workers, including unemployed and precarious workers, has been challenged through the establishment of new, more inclusive grassroots forms of resistance and mobilization based on civil disobedience, prefigurative practices, and direct action.