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Reindustrialization, Labor, and Precariousness in Romania: A Case Study of Factories in Baia Mare

Tens of thousands of workers are currently employed in factories in the Baia Mare area. Most factories are greenfield projects, while old industrial sites in Baia Mare have been abandoned. Most employees working in furniture, mattresses, clothing and footwear producing factories receive a minimum wage for full-time work. The young and “disciplined” employees manage to supplement their minimum wage by working overtime or doing additional shifts, depending on the employer’s needs. Some resort to seasonal work abroad in order to ensure their families’ survival. The factories in question are a precarious link within the capitalist circuit, operating as outsourced factories for large Western companies – the largest by production volume and number of employees being Ikea. The experience of managers and workers in these factories shows how factories and employees alike are in an extremely vulnerable and volatile position. Their bargaining power is minimal, while constant concessions are essential for survival.

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Against “Economic Surgery”: The Resurgence of Protest in Iran 

Since the winter of 2017, hardly a day has gone by in Iran without public demonstrations. Largely unemployed or underemployed young people from the most marginalized and impoverished suburbs of south-western provinces of Iran, as well as the urban working class, have turned the streets into the primary venue for the expression of their discontent with […]

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All posts ELMO Series: Gig Work in CEE’s Platform Economy

Gig Work in CEE’s Platform Economy: Delivery Drivers in Croatia

Between a rock and a hard place: “For Uber and Bolt, we are nothing but slaves” Note from LeftEast editors: This article originally appeared in Radnička Prava. The English translation is part of a collaboration with Eastern-European leftist media platforms ELMO – East Left Media Outlet. In honour of international labor day, May 1st and […]

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LevFem on 1st May: the current crisis is not that new for Eastern European workers

Note from LeftEast editors: to celebrate the 1st of Maywe publish the position of Bulgarian socialist feminist group LevFem on the occasion of International Workers Day under the current lockdown. Below you can find the audiorecording and the text of this position. The audio recording is read by LevFem member Kalina Drenska on behalf of […]

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Theory

Subversive Festival: Balkan Forum – Situations, Struggles, Strategies

Note from the LeftEast editors: with the kind permission of the Subversive Festival organizers we publish the .html versions of the Subversive Festival’s outputs “Balkan Forum: Situations, Struggles, Strategies”. A .pdf version can be downloaded by clicking on the image of the book collection here or from the website of the Forum’s principal sponsor, Rosa Luxemburg […]