ABSTRACT

This chapter interrogates sectionalism and sectionality, discussing intersectionality and its potential to rethink ideas about union collective identity and organizing concerning diversity and difference. The chapter contends that the traditional use of sectionality seems obsolete and there is clear potential for more inclusive and demo-cratic organizing and mobilization through an intersectional approach that places closer attention to how socially constructed categories of difference interplay with the work and employment experiences of particular groups. The framing of single identity in struggle is insufficient to capture the needs of worker groups sitting at the intersection of multiple marginalities, so adopting intersectional organizing would enable developing collective identity and organizing activities that resonate with the lived experiences of diverse groups and promote intersectional solidarity to support coalitionist alliances that have stronger potential for social justice and change.

Keywords: Collective identity; intersectionality; challenges for unions

INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, I discuss intersectionality and its potential to rethink ideas about union collective identity and organizing. One of the main challenges of advancing discussions about collective identity in unions is both the fixed understanding about union-related collective identity as well as how this collective identity develops and is – or should be – maintained. There are two issues here. First, the historical prevalence of White, male-dominated logics that has shaped union activities and priorities has meant that the interests of specific groups remained largely ignored. Second, scholarship problematizing key ideas pertaining to unions, such as power relations and ideology, has been developed without consideration of the complex identities of those it seeks to theorize about. However, exceptions are found in some more recent work in the 2000s (see Colgan & Ledwith 2000; Dickens 2000; Greene & Kirton 2002; Holgate 2005; Kirton & Healy 2004; Ledwith & Colgan 2002; McBride 2001; Noon & Hoque 2001; Wajcman 2000). While these works set the foundation for the analysis of gender and race in unions, this remains at the margins of dominant discussions about unions.

Against this backdrop, narratives about solidarity and collectivism presented by unions need to pay closer attention to the role of difference(s) in the way workers understand the collective and how it mediates notions of collective identity and organizing.