Degrowth: What's in it for the labour movement?

Degrowth has gained attention in recent years as a paradigm for environmental activism and policy. While degrowth is often associated with prefigurative politics, there is emerging interest among degrowth proponents in contentious mass politics and engagement with other social movements. Debate has thus emerged over what kinds of social forces might be mobilised in pursuit of a degrowth transition. Some degrowth scholars and activists have identified organised labour as a potential ally. However, discussion of the trade union movement is scarce in degrowth literature. This article briefly examines the debates emerging in the degrowth literature on organised labour, as well as the left ecomodernist class critique of degrowth. It then addresses the theoretical gap in these debates, drawing on Marxian and Gramscian approaches to understand labour's “double bind” of exploitation and growth dependency. Based on this analysis, a range of non-reformist reforms are identified that aim to break the link between economic growth and workers' wellbeing. I argue that breaking this dependency is not only a crucial step towards a socially sustainable degrowth transition; it also reduces capital's coercive power and advances the strategic position of organised labour. • Degrowth thinkers are calling for a closer engagement with the labour movement. • The role of unions is debated in degrowth literature. • Ecomodernist critics argue degrowth is incompatible with working class politics. • Degrowth thinkers have proposed a variety of pro-worker reforms. • Decoupling employment and incomes from growth improves workers' bargaining power.