'After all, it's all a matter of dignity': contextualising labour agency in advancing indigenous people voice, living standards and citizenship in the French Pacific territories

This paper aims at critically examining the nature and determinants of labour voices in enhancing citizenship in the French Pacific Territories, i.e. New Caledonia and Polynesia. Although under the same colonial ruler, both regions have shaped their own path to autonomy in quite distinctive ways; between independence and dependencies and in the management of economic, geo-political and ethnic inter-dependencies. We will thus insist on the need to provide a 'contextualised comparison'. Further, we will discuss the complex duality of colonial and anti-colonial voices within the labour movement, with a focus on indigenous trade unions. This is a highly contested terrain, in New Caledonia particularly where French Authorities have been engaging in a far ranging program of reconciliation and social partnership – the 'Common Destiny'. We will conclude by identifying the major challenges lying ahead and, finally, by raising a set of research avenues.

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2014 CRIMT International Conference: new frontiers for citizenship at work

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