Workers' Struggles in Post-Socialist Slovenia: Between Trade Union Strategies and Worker Stratification in the Workplace

The article examines the links between the evolution of the relationships of both labour/capital and trade unions/membership in post-socialist Slovenia. Research was conducted in three Slovenian companies in the recession years 2013-2014. The presentation builds on the concept developed by the Italian Operaism of the “technical” and “political” composition of the labour force. The aim is to apprehend a range of employee positions in the workplace and how they impact political commitments, here expressed through choices concerning trade union membership and activities. The analysis helps us approach the contradictory situation found in the three companies in which all employees benefit from considerable exploitation of certain groups of production and service workers. Our research may be seen as a contribution to discussions and further research on the stratification of workers in a neoliberal context and on the challenges facing trade unions in the setting of growing poverty and precarity.