Teaching and Learning Guide for: Places of Work, Scales of Organising: A Review of Labour Geography
Authors: Lier David Christoffer 
Published: May 2009

Author's Introduction

Labour geography has emerged as a vibrant, young stream of research within the critical geography tradition. It encompasses a variety of academic contributions which apply a spatial political economy approach to the world of work, ranging from analyses of the structural factors of local labour markets to studies of union strategies. The task of the article ‘Places of work . . .’ has been to offer an updated review of the existing literature, and to see the theoretical insights of these contributions in relation to each other. Fuelled by the emergence of new organising strategies among trade unions in neoliberal economies, there has been a revived interest in unionism amongst geographers. Labour geographers operate in the intersection of political and economic geography, and should appear on the reading list of any student who seeks to understand the contested nature of neoliberal globalisation. This Teaching and Learning Guide will focus on certain topics identified as key areas where labour geography can offer relevant insights. Hopefully, the guide can function as a supplement to other syllabi on geographies of labour and work by placing an emphasis on labour agency– i.e. the political opportunities of workers.

Author Recommends

1. Peck, J. (1996). Workplace: the social regulation of labor markets. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

The Peck book is a good place to start reading up on the theoretical foundations of labour geography. It provides a sophisticated Marxian analysis of the labour market, and links this understanding to the politics of reproduction and to collective action.

2. Herod, A. (ed.) (1998). Organizing the landscape: geographical perspectives on labor unionism. Minnesota, MN: University Press.

3. Herod, A. (2001). Labor geographies: workers and the landscapes of capitalism. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

The two Herod books are seminal contributions to the discipline, and both are still worth reading. The 1998 anthology is noteworthy for the number of influential case studies presented (particularly the chapters by Savage and Mitchell), whereas Chapter 2 in Labor Geographies brings the theoretical sophistication of labour agency a long step forward.

4. Castree, N., N. Coe, K. Ward and M. Samers (2004). Spaces of work: Global capitalism and geographies of labour. London, UK: Sage Publications.

The only proper text book in the field has taken labour geography beyond single case studies and essay reflections, and serves as a brilliant introduction to the key concepts. It can also function as an alternative syllabus to the one presented here.

5. Castree, N. (2000). ‘Geographical scale and grassroots internationalism: the Liverpool dock dispute, 1995–1998.’Economic Geography 76(3): 272–292.

The discussion of internationalism presented in this article has the advantage of having been preceded by other case studies on the possibilities of internationalism. It serves as an apt response to these, and problematises the notion of scaling‐up.

6. Moody, K. (1997). Workers in a lean world. London, UK: Verso.

Academic calls for the social movement unionism model have tended to portray existing trade unions as old and outdated. Moody's book remains the most convincing case for the labour movement's continued relevance in global social movements. Moreover, it provides some very good examples of alternative forms unionism around the world.

7. Hale, A. and J. Wills (2007). ‘Women working worldwide: transnational networks, corporate social responsibility and action research.’Global Networks 7(4): 453–76. doi:10.1111/j.1471-0374.2007.00179.x

Organised labour in the global South has been marginalised, not only in the world economy but also in labour geography! Hale and Wills provides a counterpoint to this tendency by examining the constraints and possibilities of these workers – and the possibilities of creating transnational solidarity links through progressive research.

8. Johns, R., and Vural, L. (2000). Class, geography and the consumerist turn: UNITE and the Stop Sweatshops campaign. Environment and Planning A 32, pp. 1193–1214. doi:10.1068/a3255

Building on the transnationalism of the previous text, Johns and Vural present a strong case for discussion other subjects – such as the consumer – in relation to labour agency.

9. Tufts, S. (1998). ‘Community unionism in Canada and labour's (re)organizing of space.’Antipode 30(3): 227–250. doi:10.1111/1467-8330.00076

Tufts’ article remains the best introduction to community unionism in North America, as well as an excellent discussion of the link between geographical concepts and trade unionism.

10. Wills, J. (2005). ‘The geography of union organising in low‐paid service industries in the UK: lessons from the T&G's campaign to unionise the Dorchester Hotel.’Antipode 37(1): 139–159. doi:10.1111/j.0066-4812.2005.00477.x

More than just a fascinating case study, this text should be read for its sensitivity to issues of migration, culture and age in relation to collective worker mobilisation.

Online Resources

1. The ILR School at Cornell University has set up an impressive website under the heading ‘The Globalization and the Workplace’. Here you can find resources and links that are very relevant to geographers with an interest in labour issues.

http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/globalPortal/

2. The sheer amount of statistics that exists on the website of the International Labor Organization (ILO) makes it a useful place to search for information on global labour.

http://www.ilo.org/

3. A perspective on worker struggles and labour internationalism from the global South is provided on the website of the Southern Initiative on Globalisation and Trade Union Rights (SIGTUR). The website offers useful links to trade unions in South Korea, Brazil and South Africa.

http://www.sigtur.com/

4. LabourStart is a dynamic website for unionism and updates on political developments in the world of work. The website has country‐specific resources and 22 different language versions!

http://www.labourstart.org/

5. Labor Notes is another website for union activists with an emphasis on community unionism and union renewal. Claims to ‘put the movement back in the labor movement’ . . .

http://labornotes.org/

Studying Labour Geographies: Reading Suggestions and Focus Questions

1. The notion of ‘putting labour in its place’ is a useful place to start reflecting on the global politics of local labour markets. Read chapter 8, ‘Localizing labor: the geopolitics of labor regulation’, in Peck (1996) and the interesting response in Walker (1999).

Peck, J. (1996). Workplace: The social regulation of labor markets. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Walker, R. (1999). ‘Putting capital in its place: globalization and the prospects for labor.’Geoforum 30: 263–284. doi:10.1016/S0016-7185(99)00016-0

Focus Question: How are processes of neoliberal globalisation linked to the local regulation of labour markets, and what political consequences does this have for organised labour?

2. What difference can labour make? The question of agency is important to a geographical understanding of labour. Read chapter 2, ‘Toward a labor geography’ in Herod (2001a).

Herod, A. (2001a). Labor geographies: Workers and the landscapes of capitalism. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Focus Questions: To what extent can we say that workers are ‘making their own geographies’ under capitalism? Find arguments for and against this assumption based on the reading.

3. Consider the following two case studies where local labour struggles have been ‘scaled up’ to an international level: Herod (2001b) and Castree (2000).

Herod, A. (2001b). ‘Labor internationalism and the contradictions of globalisation: Or, why the local is sometimes still important in a global economy.’Antipode 33(3): 407–426. doi:10.1111/1467-8330.00191

Castree, N. (2000). ‘Geographical scale and grassroots internationalism: The Liverpool dock dispute, 1995–1998.’Economic Geography 76(3): 272–292.

Focus Question: What do these examples tell us of the potential of place‐based labour to exploit the scales and networks of global capital in which they are embedded?

4. Labour positionalities in global networks may look very different, in terms of political opportunities, when seen from the global South. Contrast the following case study, Hale and Wills (2007), with the previous two.

Hale, A. and J. Wills (2007). ‘Women working worldwide: transnational networks, corporate social responsibility and action research.’Global Networks 7(4): 453–76. doi:10.1111/j.1471-0374.2007.00179.x

Focus Question: In a globalising world economy, groups of workers are located in different parts of transnational economic networks. How does this uneven landscape condition their political opportunities?

5. While many academics do research on labour migration, it remains a phenomenon which is poorly understood within the framework of labour geography. Read the chapter on labour migration, ‘Chapter 7: Displacing labour’, in Castree et al. (2004).

Castree, N., N. Coe, K. Ward and M. Samers (2004). Spaces of work: Global capitalism and geographies of labour. London, UK: Sage Publications.

Focus Question: How can we generalise about what distinguishes situations where workers seek to command space (e.g. through up‐scaling of union organisation) from situations where workers choose to move across space (i.e. labour migration)?

6. Read the following case studies of community‐oriented unionism in the UK and the US from the journal Antipode: Savage (2006), Tufts (1998) and Wills (2005).

Savage, L. (2006). ‘Justice for janitors: scales of organizing and representing workers.’Antipode 38: 645–666. doi:10.1111/j.0066-4812.2006.00600.x

Tufts, S. (1998). ‘Community unionism in Canada and labour's (re)organizing of space.’Antipode 30(3): 227–250. doi:10.1111/1467-8330.00076

Wills, J. (2005). ‘The geography of union organising in low‐paid service industries in the UK: Lessons from the T&G's campaign to unionise the Dorchester Hotel.’Antipode 37(1): 139–159. doi:10.1111/j.0066-4812.2005.00477.x

Focus questions:

In what way does the Justice for Janitors campaign exemplify how community orientation can pave the way for new sites of recruitment? Based on the case studies in the Tufts article, why do we say that community‐oriented unionism can represent new, alternative scales of organising? How do labour migration and cultural diversity represent challenges to organised labour?