Becoming Common

Chris Hurl

Commons Conference Paper, April 30, 2006

Since 1983, public sector workers have catalyzed large scale mobilizations against privatization in British Columbia. As the immediate producers of the public domain, their struggles have extended beyond specific wage demands, galvanizing popular opposition in defense of the "social wage". In this paper I will explore the roots of public sector struggles in the transition from Keynesian economic strategies seeking the alignment of mass production and mass consumption to neoliberal strategies grounded in the decomposition of these spheres through the creation and management of crisis. I will go on to argue that the recent labour struggles in the province should be seen not so much as a defense, but rather a creation of the commons through direct mobilization at the nexus of production and reproduction.