Legal Mobilization and Identity Formation in British Trade Unions: Bridging the Spaces In-Between?

Abstract

A number of new unions have appeared in the United Kingdom over the last decade. Small, agile, and confrontational, these unions—variously called ‘tiny unions’ and ‘indie unions’— have used diverse and unorthodox tactics to make meaningful gains for their members. One of the most striking features about indie unions is the extent to which they utilise litigation as a tactic, particularly considering their more radical orientation. Studying the Independent Workers of Great Britain's (IWGB) litigation strategy offers insights into how and why indie unions may be turning to the courts to build the labour movement. Drawing on the extensive legal mobilization literature, it is my intuition that worker status litigation operates to shift workers’ sense of self, as well as the way they see themselves in relation to others. That is, litigation may be playing a role in transforming individual and collective identity to enable political agency. Although in this chapter I argue that the analytical frameworks contained in the legal mobilisation literature can open up new vistas for thinking about the relationship between law and politics in contemporary British trade unions, I also argue that confirmation of some of the potential mechanisms outlined below will ultimately depend upon careful empirical work.