Worker protests in post-communist RW o Romania and Ukraine o m r Worker protests in ak Striking with tied hands ne ir a post-communist p This book is the first study of the strategies of trade unions at the factory level in post- ar communist countries. The book details the strategies of trade unions confronting o n employers in difficult conditions: the post-communist context makes it difficult for t d e Romania and Ukraine workers and trade unions to mobilize, pose threats to employers and break out of their political isolation, but even under such harsh conditions strategy matters for Ust defending workers’ rights and living standards. The cases studied in this book are ks eighteen conflict episodes at ten privatized plants in the Romanian steel industry and r i an Ukraine’s civil machine-building sector in the 2000s. in p The book uses a combination of research methodologies that is rare in political e o Striking with tied hands science and sociology: a theoretically informed game theoretical model with s empirically informed narratives of actual histories of conflict. It develops an intricate t - methodology employing comparisons across countries (different legal systems c and legacies of communism), situations (employers interested or not interested o in production), strategic orientations (conflict or cooperation), sites of contention m and time periods of contention in a complex yet thoroughly systematic manner to investigate the interplay of several factors that impact upon the efficacy of different m union strategies and actions. u n This book should be relevant for anyone taking an interest in how and to what extent i workers can reassert their influence over the conditions of production in regions and s t economic sectors characterized by disinvestment (of which outsourcing and ‘lean’ methods of production are instances). Mihai Varga is Senior Researcher at the Eastern Europe Institute, Freie Universität Berlin V a Cover image: Striking workers in Kherson, Ukraine, 2009. Igor Trubaev r g a www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk ISBN 978-0-7190-9112-4 Mihai Varga 9 780719 091124 Please note that colours may print a little different from this proof due to the process involved Worker protests in post-communist Romania and Ukraine Varga_WorkerProtests_Text.indd 1 02/04/2014 12:01 Varga_WorkerProtests_Text.indd 2 02/04/2014 12:01 Worker protests in post-communist Romania and Ukraine Striking with tied hands mihai varga Manchester University Press Manchester and New York distributed exclusively in the United States by Palgrave Macmillan Varga_WorkerProtests_Text.indd 3 02/04/2014 12:01 Copyright © Mihai Varga 2014 The right of Mihai Varga to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by Manchester University Press Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9NR, UK and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk Distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave Macmillan, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA Distributed exclusively in Canada by UBC Press, University of British Columbia, 2029 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for isbn 978 0 7190 9112 4 hardback First published 2014 The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or any third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Typeset in Arno Pro by Koinonia, Manchester Varga_WorkerProtests_Text.indd 4 02/04/2014 12:01 Familiei mele Varga_WorkerProtests_Text.indd 5 02/04/2014 12:01 Varga_WorkerProtests_Text.indd 6 02/04/2014 12:01 Contents List of tables ix List of figures x Abbreviations of names of organizations used frequently xi Preface xiii 1 Theorizing transformation from a labour perspective 1 2 Labour in Romania and Ukraine: two approaches to managing worker discontent 18 3 A theory of labour strategy 44 4 Struggles at the plant 79 5 Struggles for the plant 112 6 Contention in and for the plant: emergence and outcomes 153 7 The difficult road to strategy 165 8 Conclusions 188 Bibliography 210 Index 223 Varga_WorkerProtests_Text.indd 7 02/04/2014 12:01 Varga_WorkerProtests_Text.indd 8 02/04/2014 12:01 List of tables 2.1 Transition indicators for selected post-communist countries 19 2.2 Machine-production in Ukraine, 2003–2007 40 3.1 Hypotheses with employer interest distinction and managerial power over union funds and ranks 70 3.2 How cases rank on the dependent variable dimensions 72 3.3 Trade unions studied during fieldwork 76 4.1 Overview of plants in Chapter 4 81 4.2 Labour representation in the case of Siderurgistul, the union at Siderurgica Hunedoara 83 4.3 Labour representation in the case of SLI, the union at COS Târgovişte 92 4.4 Labour representation in the case of the union at ZAZ in Zaporizhia, Ukraine 101 4.5 Labour representation in two episodes of contention at KrAZ in Kremenchuk, Ukraine 106 4.6 Labour representation and strategic elements: contention episodes in Chapter 4 110 5.1 Overview of plants in Chapter 5 113 5.2 Overview of cases (contention episodes) in Chapter 5 114 5.3 Labour representation at the CSR in Reşiţa, Romania 116 5.4 Labour representation at Socomet in Oţelu Roşu, Romania 124 5.5 Labour representation at VPZ in Vinnitsa, Ukraine 130 5.6 Labour representation at HMZ in Kherson, Ukraine 141 5.7 Labour representation and strategic elements: contention episodes in Chapter 5 149 6.1 Plants in Ukraine; the ‘dilemma of paternalism’ game 156 6.2 Plants in Romania: the ‘effectiveness dilemma’ game 158 6.3 Cases, conditions, strategies, and outcomes 160 7.1 A diverse landscape: labour in the manufacturing sectors of post-communist countries 181 Varga_WorkerProtests_Text.indd 9 02/04/2014 12:01