The Politicization Effect of the Environment Issue in Labour Claim-Making: The case of Italy

Abstract

Drawing on the Italian case, this article demonstrates how labour organizations strategically leverage environ- mental issues to politicize their claims when necessary. Italy serves as a critical case due to its strong tradition of trade union protest mobilization. This study argues that, given the rising prominence of environmental concerns in public debate, environmental issues have not only revitalized environmental movements but have also reignited labour conflicts, with some stemming from the adverse consequences of the environmental transition paradigm. The article combines the recent perspective of social movement unionism with the older “political exchange” theory developed by Alessandro Pizzorno and proceeds in two phases. First, through a protest event analysis based on an original dataset, it statistically demonstrates that the use of environmental issues in claim-making is associated with four indicators of politicized claims: coalitional coordination, social inclusion, a repertoire of actions extending beyond striking, and the generalization of claims. In the second phase, the study reconstructs a case of labour conflict in the automotive sector, offering a qualitative examination of the underlying mecha- nisms that drive this association.