Workforces and local communities against corporate restructuring: a comparative case study of resistance to plant closures in Northern Spain

ABSTRACT

The article examines the formation of local networks of resistance to production relocation plans. We present evidence from three case studies characterized by strong local defiance to plant closure plans in three American-owned transnational companies with four production sites in Northern Spain. The article explores the repertoire of protest and support mobilization leading the workforces to forge local alliances with trade unions, public authorities and other local community organizations and collectives. We focus on labour conflicts that transcend company boundaries through mobilizing urban communities. The methodology used is qualitative. Our analysis is grounded on a theoretically informed comparative case study based on the literature on power relations and micro-political struggles in transnational companies. We also make use of conceptual insights from the labour geography perspective. The article delves into the contra-hegemonic potential of labour-community alliances. Our findings substantiate the role of micro-politics in transnational companies and reveal opportunities and constraints for effective local responses to corporate restructuring.

KEYWORDS:

• Transnational companies
• production relocation
• employee relations
• labour protest
• public mobilization

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge and thank Carolina Dantas Madureira for her insightful comments and suggestions to earlier versions of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Article 51. Royal Legislative Decree Law 2/2015 of 23 November 2015, https://www.boe.es/eli/es/rdlg/2015/10/23/2/con.

2. See endnote 1. Article 51.2.

3. Available at: www.ec.europa.eu/spain/pdf/np-tenneco-20-diciembre-2013_es.pdf.

4. For a more detailed description see Köhler and González Begega (2018).

5. The newly established company was in turn merged into Coca-Cola European Partners Ltd. in May 2016, thus becoming a subsidiary in the Iberian area.

6. Data retrieved in December 2018.

7. Interview at La Voz de Galicia, June 19th, 2018.

8. Data retrieved in June 2019.

9. EWC News Nr. 4/2018.

10. IndustriALL News. 18/10/2018: https://news.industriall-europe.eu/Article/253.

Additional information

Funding

The research was supported by the SODITREC Project. Social Dialogue in the Transforming Economy. Reference number EC-EMPL.A2-VS/2019/0096. The authors are members of the PROMEBI (Promoting Employment and Welfare in Europe) Research Group at the University of Oviedo.

Notes on contributors

Sergio González Begega

Sergio González Begega is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Sociology, University of Oviedo (Spain). He is member of the research networks PROMEBI (Uniovi), WPE and GoodCorp (ETUI) and co-PI of the EU-funded Project SODITREC. His research lines include European industrial relations and comparative social policy. He has participated in edited books with Edward Elgar, Routledge, OUP, Peter Lang, among others. He has published articles in journals such as Employee Relations, Economic and Industrial Democracy, CPoIB, Transfer, among others.

Holm-Detlev Köhler

Holm-Detlev Köhler is a Full Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Oviedo (Spain) and member of the PROMEBI network. His research interests include comparative industrial relations, management and innovation in transnational corporations, local and regional development. He is PI of the project SODITREC. He is co-author of the main handbook on Sociology of Work and Industrial Relations in Spanish (Delta Publicaciones, 2010) and guest editor of the special issue Industrial Relations in 21st Century Europe (Employee Relations, 40(4), 2018).