La participation syndicale des travailleurs dans un contexte de précarité de l’emploi
Employment precarity can be defined as the accumulation of insecurities or as the lack of security in an employment relationship. This phenomenon still exists despite its evolutions across time. Precarity can take several forms : low income, low control on one's work schedule, fixed-term contracts, insufficient number of hours, lack of access to social protection or unionization. All those forms will have consequences on one's living conditions, such as material deprivation (inadequate housing, clothes, food, leisure), stress or adverse effects on health. In the meantime, unions organize and fight to grant their members the best working conditions achievable. When it comes to precarious workers, unions militate for better regulations, in order to mitigate the negative consequences of employment precarity. Members' participation to the daily life of their union is here considered to be capital : They are the only ones able to inform the union's head of the current situation, and they are the only ones able to implement means of pressure in order to create a balance of power with the company's management. It is noticeable however, that on a theoretical point of view, most models about union participation from members have their focus on the so-called "traditional" workforce, that presents no signs of precarity. The aim of our research is therefore to apply an analysis grid, initially tailored for "traditionnal" workforce, to a group of workers featuring precarity factors. By analyzing working conditions, current union strategies and participation in tis form and intensity, we intend to see how participation from precarious workers can differ from the one of a standard workforce. To do so, we have analyzed and compared two groups of unionized workers. Those two groups are unionized with the same union, belong to the same corporate group and operate in the same economic field. Yet, the form and intensity of their union participations differ significantly. Our analysis therefore consisted of meeting different actors of those two groups. Thanks to the results of our interviews, we highlighted the union strategies that allow one of the two groups to have a higher participation level. We also provide a feedback on the classical theories regarding union participation, to see which ones can be extended to precarious workers and which ones cannot. Through the analysis of our cases, we determined that certain elements such as the attitude of union representatives toward their function, communication methods or the way collective identity was built are very important to characterize union participation from a precarious workforce. Conversely, while classic theories about union participation seem to highlight the importance of union attitude of the workforce, individual activities or formal communication methods for union participation, our finding tend to mitigate the importance of the latter elements.
precarious work precarious workers union participation membership logic