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 Sophiensæle, the Berlin Hospital Movement, the sex workers* self-organization HYDRA e.V., and the AG Tanz und Elternschaft (Working Group on Parenthood and Dance). The Berlin Hospital Movement is an alliance of staff from Charité and Vivantes hospitals, showing how organizing can succeed in the public healthcare sector – their labor struggle, lasting more than a month, resulted in the best collective agreement for relief measures for hospital staff nationwide to date. HYDRA e.V. has been the first German self-organization of sex workers* since 1980, advocating for their legal and social equality, destigmatization, and counseling. The AG Elternschaft und Tanz fights for the visibility and recognition of care work in the cultural sector – and for the principle that parenthood should not be a career risk.