Digital labour platform (DLP) workers and migrant workers represent two distinct yet often intersecting categories of labour shaped by India’s rapid urbanization and replication of the Silicon Valley model through the development of tech cities. Urban tech hubs such as the Southern Indian city of Bangalore have not only attracted white-collar IT professionals but have also generated a growing demand for informal and lower-class migrant labour in sectors such as domestic work, transportation, and sanitation. While migrant workers in these labour roles vary by occupation and social positioning, they share a collective identity as urban outsiders and endure systemic exploitation under capitalist economic structures. This chapter examines an emergent model of inter-class solidarity in Karnataka, anchored in the collaboration of three unions affiliated with the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), a traditional trade union: the All India IT and ITeS Employees’ Union (AIITEU), the Inter-State Migrant Workers’ Federation of Karnataka (IMFK), and the All India Gig Workers Union (AIGWU). Drawing on participant observation, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, we analyze how conditions for inter-class and inter-union solidarity emerged among tech workers and lower-class migrant labourers, predominantly from Muslim and oppressed-caste backgrounds—many of whom later transitioned into gig work. Through this analysis, we trace how three fraternal yet organizationally distinct unions have cultivated polyphonic practices of collective action and organizing—a process we identify as transversal unionism. We demonstrate how attention to cultural content of labour, such as linguistic identity, creates vital entry points for inter-class solidarity. Furthermore, our findings suggest that traditional trade unions could benefit from engaging with migrant laborers’ concerns beyond the workplace—such as social citizenship—while recognizing the city as a critical choke point where production and consumption flows intersect and are structured. This is particularly relevant in an era where algorithmic management systems in DLPs are fundamentally destabilizing the spatial fixity that traditionally characterized workspaces.

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Transversal Unionism: Resisting and Navigating a Neoliberal City Through Identity and Labour Power

  • Dipsita Dhar,
  • Ashique Ali Thuppilikkat,
  • Soham Bhattacharya

摘要

Digital labour platform (DLP) workers and migrant workers represent two distinct yet often intersecting categories of labour shaped by India’s rapid urbanization and replication of the Silicon Valley model through the development of tech cities. Urban tech hubs such as the Southern Indian city of Bangalore have not only attracted white-collar IT professionals but have also generated a growing demand for informal and lower-class migrant labour in sectors such as domestic work, transportation, and sanitation. While migrant workers in these labour roles vary by occupation and social positioning, they share a collective identity as urban outsiders and endure systemic exploitation under capitalist economic structures. This chapter examines an emergent model of inter-class solidarity in Karnataka, anchored in the collaboration of three unions affiliated with the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), a traditional trade union: the All India IT and ITeS Employees’ Union (AIITEU), the Inter-State Migrant Workers’ Federation of Karnataka (IMFK), and the All India Gig Workers Union (AIGWU). Drawing on participant observation, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, we analyze how conditions for inter-class and inter-union solidarity emerged among tech workers and lower-class migrant labourers, predominantly from Muslim and oppressed-caste backgrounds—many of whom later transitioned into gig work. Through this analysis, we trace how three fraternal yet organizationally distinct unions have cultivated polyphonic practices of collective action and organizing—a process we identify as transversal unionism. We demonstrate how attention to cultural content of labour, such as linguistic identity, creates vital entry points for inter-class solidarity. Furthermore, our findings suggest that traditional trade unions could benefit from engaging with migrant laborers’ concerns beyond the workplace—such as social citizenship—while recognizing the city as a critical choke point where production and consumption flows intersect and are structured. This is particularly relevant in an era where algorithmic management systems in DLPs are fundamentally destabilizing the spatial fixity that traditionally characterized workspaces.