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Fighting Marketization

An Analysis of Municipal Manual Labor in the United Kingdom and the United States

University of Derby, Great Britain

As public-service unions and workers struggle against privatization, they must emphasize that their labor is distinctive because it produces use-values composed of concrete, unquantifiable labor. Use-value production responds to social needs and permits the development of a "public service ethos." Market mechanisms are continually eroding public-service labor and welfare services in an effort to reduce their value to that of a commodity. Case study evidence presented here shows that such marketization causes job loss, casualization, intensification, and loss of worker morale. Workers and unions have fought hard to overcome the worst effects of contracting out by cooperating with other unions, with sympathetic managers, and with the local community. To keep their service from deteriorating, they can argue that municipal labor is distinctive. The article relates the findings and arguments to municipal manual labor in the United States.

Key Words: municipal services • neoliberal reforms • privatization • deterioration of service • commodification of labor • municipal labor • labor unions • labor/ community coalitions to fight privatization

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