Dataset creation

Part of my research was a mapping exercise that was dedicated to capturing non-industrial strikes around the globe in the conjuncture of crisis. I have discussed the results and their implications for my research question in Chapter 4. In this Appendix, I explain how I proceeded when I conducted my actual research, which was influenced methodologically by an approach to mapping used by colleagues in a project that was about transitions to renewable energy in 34 countries in Africa (Müller et al, 2020). This section is dedicated to how I created my dataset; in the next one, I discuss how I coded the data. Since my approach to data analysis is contained in Chapter 4, I do not repeat the different steps in detail here.

Inspired by Silver's Forces of Labor (2003), my starting point was a search for the coverage of non-industrial strikes in online archives of well- known quality papers, that is, The Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg), The Times of India (Mumbai), The New York Times, Página12 (Buenos Aires), The Guardian (London), Die Tageszeitung (taz, Berlin) and Público (Madrid). I chose those papers to ensure that there was geographical balance; that they were written in languages that I understood; that their archives were accessible online; that they had reputation for good journalism with a sound factual basis; and that they were interested in labour issues.

I conducted online searches for each paper. The search terms were ‘public sector’ or ‘service sector’ and ‘strike’ (or the respective terms in German and Spanish). They ensured that I was able to pick up a wide range of stoppages, but the number of hits was always significantly higher for ‘public sector’ and ‘strike’ than for ‘service sector’ and ‘strike’. The reason is, in all likelihood, that in contrast to stoppages in the public sector, service sector strikes often take place at a specific company or in a specific sub- sector, which is why journalists writing about them do not necessarily have to refer to the ‘service sector’ when they cover them.