Precarious organizing and beyond: the case of arts and construction industry

Ongoing reconfigurations of work under contemporary global capitalism increasingly defy the centrality of the workplace for workers’ organizing. Some sectors, though, have always been challenged by the lack of a stable workplace and by the temporary nature of work relations. That is the case of the arts and construction industry which provide longstanding examples of precarious and mobile work and have been related to precarious organizing. Despite representing two distinct sectors of the workforce, they present a set of similarities that challenge the possibilities of workers’ organisation and mobilisation: the temporary, project-based nature of work; the precarious employment arrangements, often informal; the mobile nature of work activities, not linked to a fixed workplace. Based on the Portuguese context, this paper provides a comparative analysis of both sectors, arguing on their analytical significance to explore new forms of workers’ solidarity and broader terrains of struggle.