How do labor struggles emerge – and how are they carried out? Who organizes when classic labour law doesn't apply, or when structural disadvantage blocks access to established union structures?

In this panel discussion, we bring together people who fight for better working conditions or have built their own structures of self-organisation. At the centre is not only the question of strategies and successes, but also the conditions under which collective action becomes possible at all: What does it take for organising to be effective? What forms emerge beyond the mainstream – and what can we learn from each other?

Joining us are the works council of the Sophiensæle, the Berlin Hospital Movement, and the AG Parenthood and Dance. The Berlin Hospital Movement is a coalition of employees from Charité and Vivantes that has shown how grassroots organizing can succeed in the public health sector – their strike of more than a month resulted in what was at the time the strongest collective agreement on staff relief in German hospital history. The AG Parenthood and Dance fights for the visibility and recognition of care work in the arts – and for the idea that parenthood should not be a question of career survival.