Abstract:
Challenges to unions worldwide are often framed in a strategic tension between
enterprise unionism on one hand, and mobilisation for unions’ continued relevance
under neoliberal global capitalism on the other. However, research in a New Industrial
Zone (NIZ) in India reveals a complex picture: a variety of unions across firms
that are not always explained by existing definitions and models. Alongside political
and enterprise unions, a third dimension emerges out of new forms of grassroots
community links rooted in the living areas of workers. This paper argues for a
socio-historical institutional analysis of union–worker–firm–state relations under the
new political economy of a NIZ, with a focus on workers’ experiences and living
areas, in order to explain the varied structures and strategies of unions.
