Striking with social media: the contested (online) terrain of workplace conflict

In this paper we review the workplace battleground and explore the potential of social media for mobilizing social movements in labour conflicts and beyond. By conducting a case study with empirical accounts obtained from the 2010/2011 British Airways cabin crew dispute in the UK, along with secondary sources, we discern social media in the workplace as a contested field. Inquiring into the unfolding dynamic of social media and workplace conflict, we investigate the mobilizing prospects of theoretical concepts like ‘distributed
discourse’ and ‘accelerated pluralism’ through the analytical prism of our interviews (Bimber, 1998; Greene et al, 2003). Our analysis of these empirical accounts will tease out certain empowering potentials in the use of social media to shape discourse and mobilize movement. However, we also note that these same communicative actions may challenge internal union authority, generate counter-mobilizing efforts and constitute an integral part in exposing both our private and working lives to the processes of marketization and
commodification.

Martin Upchurch, Rickard Grassman, Striking with social media: The contested (online) terrain of workplace conflict, Organization, Vol 23, Issue 5, pp. 639 - 656 © 2015 (The Author(s)). Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications