In these countries, the Greens get only 3 seats (on a total of almost 200) and so does the radical left (3 seats too). The Socialists & Democrats in Central and Eastern Europe, for their part, have stabilized their share of the vote. Altogether the left counts for 25 % of the vote in that region. Looking more closely at the national level, it is very difficult to make any generalization. Look at the situation in Poland and Spain, for example.

The cleavage theory of Rokkan and Lipset from 1967 can be useful here in trying to put some order and understand the picture by analyzing emerging cleavages. Of the 3 traditional cleavages  – state vs church, centre vs periphery, and owner/capital vs worker –  the last one was the most influential for the trade union movement. Even if a redefinition of the capital/workers cleavage would be possible, with more attention for the ecological question, it would nevertheless be helpful to add 2 additional (new) cleavages to the picture.

A first new cleavage is the opposition between open – closed society. It was clearly part of this election debate.  It can be illustrated by the tensions between the renamed Renew Europe Group and the Identity and Democracy Group. Although intuitively we would take for granted that both are opposed to social policies, this does not quite seem to be the case.  We can observe that some nationalistic parties propagate social messages. At the same time, Emmanuel Macron, who has decided to join with his political movement the Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament, has a socially inspired discourse, although only at EU level (doing the contrary at national level). If this cleavage is becoming dominant, it could be very challenging for the trade unions.

A second cleavage is the green, post-materialist versus productivist political positioning, which has gained more popularity recently.  For the proponents of post-materialist values, the environmental crisis imposes a completely new paradigm. It challenges the productivist paradigm which centers on the concept of growth. Again, the social orientation of the post-materalist paradigm is not straightforward. It ranges from very socially sensitive to more liberal. The challenge here will be to have an in-depth reflection about what it means concretely for trade unions to operate in this new paradigm. If post-materialism takes the lead, what does this mean for pensions and wages? What could be a trade union agenda in this context? 

In any case, it is only the start of very complex, challenging and strategic debates for the future.

Republished from the website ETUI.org, download a PDF of their monthly newsletter here

Header image Alberto Cadas Vidani/Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

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The article has been co-authored by Alex Pazaitis, Vasilis Kostakis and Michel Bauwens. Special thanks to Alanna Krause and Joshua Vial for their valuable input and support, as well as to all Enspiral people.

Abstract: This article explores how autonomous workers/contributors, involved in peer-to-peer relations, can organise their productive efforts so that they have sustainable livelihoods. The discussion is guided by the concept of ‘open cooperativism’, which argues for a synergy between the commons-based peer production movement and elements of the cooperative and solidarity economy movements. To this end, we review the case of Enspiral, a network of professionals and companies that empowers and supports social entrepreneurship. We explore its values, operation and governance as well as the chosen strategies for autonomy and sustainability. Finally, some lessons are summarised for the cooperative and union movement, which point to open cooperativism as an integrated vision.

Full text available here: http://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/cQtJrUauKHrIGGYmMZtq/full (find this and more publications of the P2P Lab openly accessible here).

Photo by mimitalks, married, under grace

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The authors focus on what has been called ‘commons-based peer production’ but also address the more controversial case of ‘platform capitalism’ (such as Uber or AirBnB). These new forms of production and work pose real challenges for the trade union movement and workers. According to some research, there is evidence of a direct connection between precarious work, new unemployment and these emerging forms of production and work.

The aim of the authors of this brief is to highlight also the opportunities that the emergence of peer production offers for the labour movement and workers in the form of a new wave of cooperative organisations that can create ‘non-subordinate labour’. You can read the full report though the embed below, or browse through the sections and comment on it in the Commons Transition Wiki.

The Emergence of Peer Production Challenges and Opportunities for Labour and Unions by P2P Foundation on Scribd

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