‘There is no union renewal without striking’ has been the underlying logic driving collective bargaining and union renewal dynamics in the Basque Country. This article shows how the Basque sovereigntist unions ELA (Euskal Langileen Alkartasuna) and LAB (Langile Abertzaleen Batzordeak) have formed a ‘counterpower’ bloc, in opposition to CCOO (Comisiones Obreras) and UGT (Union General de Trabajadores) that are more prone to engage into social dialogue. The formers’ renewal strategy based on organizing workers ‘deeply’ — especially with ELA's recurrent use of a strike-fund that fosters membership participation and affiliation through confederal solidarity — has altered union politics in the Basque Country. This has produced very high strike rates since the 2000s, perhaps the highest in Europe, and a ‘spill over’ effect that polarizes union alliances substantially. The article brings out the question of how unions could possibly locate industrial conflict within their renewal strategies and transform their organizations accordingly. Methodologically, the article contributes to the literature on strikes by underlining the importance of studying strikes critically, as a conscious collective process, in order to understand that their uneven development also derives from concrete unions’ strategies.

中文翻译：

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罢工更新：巴斯克工会的组织战略和罢工基金的使用

“没有罢工就没有工会更新”一直是推动巴斯克地区集体谈判和工会更新动态的基本逻辑。这篇文章展示了巴斯克主权主义联盟 ELA（Euskal Langileen Alkartasuna）和 LAB（Langile Abertzaleen Batzordeak）如何形成一个“反力量”集团，以反对更倾向于参与社会对话。前者基于“深入”组织工人的更新战略——尤其是 ELA 反复使用罢工基金，通过联邦团结促进会员参与和从属关系——改变了巴斯克地区的工会政治。自 2000 年代以来，这产生了非常高的罢工率，可能是欧洲最高的，以及“溢出”效应，使工会联盟大幅两极分化。这篇文章提出了工会如何在其更新战略中定位产业冲突并相应地改造其组织的问题。在方法论上，这篇文章强调了研究罢工的重要性，从而为有关罢工的文献做出了贡献。至关重要的是，作为一个有意识的集体过程，为了理解他们的不平衡发展也源于具体工会的战略。