Unions in society, unions in the state: New forms of irregular workers’ movements beyond the factory in South Korea

Abstract

In this study, the authors explore the ways that new forms of labor politics emerge in civil society in the era of flexible labor markets and fragmented workplaces (through outsourcing and subcontracting). First, a theoretical framework is developed that accounts for the formation processes of three modes of irregular, non-standard labor politics: politics of influence, politics of substitution, and politics of occupation. Each of these delineates positional politics of issue-specific threats and alliance, unions’ functional replacement of local civic governance, and unions’ takeover of the state’s institutional space. Then, using unique qualitative field interviews of labor activists and union leaders, a comparative case study is conducted to examine three instances of non-standard workers’ struggles against their employers in South Korean labor politics in the 2000s and the 2010s: the Hyundai Motors Irregular Workers’ Union, the Hope Union, and the Youth Community Union. The study highlights grassroots-based community activism and the institutionalized civil-society space within the state as newly arising forms of labor politics, and discusses their implications in relation to the state, civil society, and partisan politics.