** Apologies for cross-posting **
Second call for papers: LABOUR GEOGRAPHIES IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR
March 22-27, Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas
Association of American Geographers’ 2009 Annual Meeting
Labour geography has emerged as a vibrant stream of research within the
geography discipline. Based on a diverse collection of case studies,
depicting labour struggles in various places and contexts, it has
conceptualised labour under capitalism (and in relation to the concepts of
scale and place). But, as an analytical framework, it can be argued that
labour geography still suffers from a geographical and sectoral bias – with
the Anglo-American world and the low-paid private service work as the
contexts which are best understood. This session seeks to bring together
empirical research and theoretical perspectives from geographers with an
interest in the politics of the public sector. The public sector arguably
presents workers with some unique challenges and opportunities, particularly
as they engage the state as an employer – as well as a regulatory body, a
political authority and a (more or less) democratic institution. Public
sector workers are often in opposition to neoliberal reforms in public
services, and reflections on these union experiences in different state
contexts (national-local or between nation-states) can bring us towards a
better understanding of public sector work from a geographical and political
perspective. Papers within this session should attempt to address some of
the following issues:
How do neoliberal state restructuring challenge public sector unionism?
How is the potential for internationalism by organised labour in the public
sectors (of national economies) different from up-scaling in other sectors
or in multinational companies?
In what ways do public sector unions join forces with community groups to
mobilise around service delivery issues?
How do public sector unions exploit the fact that their employer – the state
– is a political and democratic institution?
Can state employment function as a disciplining mechanism for public sector
unionism – e.g. through ‘big government’ rhetoric and wage restrictions?
Can being employed by a political institution circumscribe public sector
workers as political subjects – e.g. being particularly susceptible to
voting manipulation in the context of fraud elections?
This session is sponsored by the AAG Economic Geography Specialty Group.
Experiences and views from different local and national contexts as well as
international forms of unionism are welcome. If you are interested, please
send an abstract of 250 words or less to David Christoffer Lier
([log in to unmask]) no later than 10 October 2008.
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