Proceedings of The 3rd International Conference on New Trends in Social Sciences
Year: 2022
DOI:
[Fulltext]
At Work Solidarity and Ecological Solidarity
Patrick Chaskiel
ABSTRACT:
While research has considered the relationship of trade union organizations to the new social protest movements through the critique of liberalism, which is common, the problems linked to the theme of industrial risk have hardly been the subject of ongoing research. Some authors have certainly insisted on the limited openness of the labor movement to the demands of anti-nuclear groups, but only in an ad hoc manner.
The present text thus responds to a gap, which is all the more problematic in view of the fact that protests against major technological projects (GMOs, nanotechnologies, etc.) or land-use planning (creation of major facilities: new airports, dams, etc.) are developing and that the positions of trade union organizations are becoming more differentiated, on the one hand, from each other and, on the other hand, from the positions of the associative components of the civil society. In this perspective, the principle according to which trade unionism could play two roles should be explored: social partner and shaper of societal values.
We will put forward the idea that, on a societal theme such as industrial risk, trade unionism occupies almost exclusively the role of social partner and not that of shaper of societal values, bearers of general solidarity. If these two roles have been held in the field of reproduction and maintenance of the work force, on the other hand, on the problem of the mode of development, historical trade unionism is led to privilege professional relations and to distance itself from contestations.
keywords: Citizenship; Ecology; Nanotechnology; Research; Risks.