ILPC 2026

This work refers to the partial results of a doctoral thesis (funded by CONICET) whose general objective is analyse the strategies and actions that retail workers in micro and small enterprises display to deal with situations of precariousness in their jobs.

It is proposed, from a “travel” through their work trajectories -in relation to the characteristics of their work and the multiple situations of conflict that go through them- the reconstruction of struggle itineraries based on their experiences, meanings, interests, reflections and practices.

In order to reconstruct these experiences, were interviewed about the current work situation, the previous work and its future prospects. During the conversation, relationships are recovered around: family, friends, co-workers, employers and customers, users or consumers of the service.

Emphasis is placed on the investigation of conflict situations, that is when actions and strategies that shape and define the relationships that - from the moment "break", moment-problem (milestone, before and after) - will be configured, in different levels of abstraction, ruptures and continuities in the alternatives that define “the space of the possible”.

The supposed guide of the research highlights that, in precarious and fragmented work contexts, it is possible to configure meanings that would allow an identity of common interests, based on reflections, thoughts, actions and similar practices, possibly of an alternative type to the already developed by the organized workers' movement, but that, despite not being coordinated collectively, remain invisible. This would constitute a contribution of great importance for the rapprochement of alternative reflections, as “the space of the possible” and “thought for the action” that would enrich the union of the sector and the search for successful strategies to finish situations of precarious work.

Although there is a strong tolerance or resistance to various situations of precariousness, it is observed in the interviews, that as work experience increases, better strategies to cope with the daily work.

In the face of a conflict, the union or the “subsecretary of labour” is resorted to (but in the last instance), first an instance of dialogue is used, usually individual (worker / employer).

The results can be variable, in fact, many of them fail, but what makes them "follow" at work has a strong link with their family realities.

When the work affects negatively affective-family (situations because of work, the young workers cannot attend transcendent family events) like birthdays or illness situations, marks a before and after, in relation to all those situations of precariousness before “bearable”. - and that axis is what makes the difference.

From there, the "strategies" are modified and what was previously normal, is now unjust or "more unjust". There are limits in labour relations, who previously did not appear and there is a greater predisposition to make claims collectively, or at least, some more solidarity among the co-workers.

Regarding the deployment of collective actions, they are almost non-existent, as is the formal presence of the union in these spaces, which is presented as something distant, although eventually effective at the time of filing an individual claim.

These partial results (up to now in 20 in-depth interviews) show an important fragmentation of the formal ways of collective action in precarious environments in the micro and small business. What does not mean that at micro-group levels do not establish or lead to improvements in the terms of negotiation or new fighting strategies in their current or future workplaces.