Repertoires from ‘above’ and ‘below’ in a market despotic workplace regime: A qualitative case study analysis of protected strikes in South Africa

This article analyses the repertoires of contention employed from ‘above’ by employers and ‘below’ by workers and their organisations in the context of the market despotic workplace regime of post-apartheid South Africa. As such, this article extends Tilly’s work on the relationship between regimes and repertoires to provide a more fine-grained analysis of production politics. Through the analysis of two qualitative case studies of protected strikes in South Africa, the article illustrates commonalities in how employers across different industries use lawfare as a tactic to delay and disrupt collective action combined with various forms of surveillance and violence. As the article illustrates, the state complicity supports these repertoires but will also exercise some restraint on capital. In response, workers must go beyond the picket line, activating coalition networks, campaigning for consumer boycotts and undertaking ‘home visits’. Our cases illustrate that strike repertoires have to be dynamically understood, reflecting the capacities of employers and workers to mobilise.