Reconstructing Identity After a Labor Dispute Against the Closure of a Site: Case Study on Union Leaders


François Grima

IRG (EA 2354)               
University of Paris-Est Créteil 

grimaf2000@yahoo.com 

Rachel Beaujolin

Neoma Business School 
rachel.beaujolin@neoma-bs.fr

1. By “stable job” we refer to a permanent or fixed-
term salaried position of six months’ duration or 
more, or a self-employed activity.

Reconstructing Identity After a Labor
Dispute Against the Closure of a Site: 
Case Study on Union Leaders 

François Grima � Rachel Beaujolin

Abstract. This article  describes how union leaders reconstructed their identity 
after leading  a dispute against the closure of their site. Linking together various 
aspects of critical theories of identity, identity salience, self-categorization, and 
coping, a survey was carried out by holding semi-structured  interviews with 50 
union leaders who managed  this professional transition.  Three identity balances 
were identified: identity tension, in-between, and turning the page. The  first 
constitutes a refusal to carry out the  professional transition. The second exposes 
an identity tension in which the leader seeks to assume a “double”  identity, while 
the third refers to the completed identity transition. Our work suggests that the 
capacity to reconstruct identity depends on the  interrelation of personal and 
contextual variables from which the key roles of social support and the nature of 
union investment emerge. These results contribute to a renewed understanding 
of both professional transitions and the identity dynamic in a climate of threat.

! While 266 companies with more than 10 employees closed  in 2012 and 
more than a thousand factories have shut down since 2009, leaving 42 000 fewer 
employees in industry, a report by the Economic and Social Council (Ramonet, 
2010) indicates that the rate of re-employment in a stable job1 after collective 
redundancy stands at around 60%. Understanding how workers who are made 
redundant deal with this professional transition constitutes a major issue on 
several levels (Cascio, 1993; Morris, et al., 1998; Gandolfi, 2008). Firstly, from a 
societal point of view, it is worth securing the  laid-off worker a career path so that 
the change does not become traumatic, leading  to a long-term lack of job  security 
(Luthans & Sommer, 1999; Macky, 2004). Secondly, from a managerial point of 
view, it is worth ensuring that the  employee retains a positive  image of him- or 
herself and of the company as a whole (Pugh, et al., 2003; Eby & Buch, 1995). 
On the  same theme, this research aims to understand how trade-union leaders 
manage  their professional transition after leading the  opposition to the closure of 
their company. More precisely, how do  they manage the two-fold identity rupture 
caused by losing their job  and losing  their status as a representative of a 
disbanded body of workers? 
! Paradoxically, this line of questioning is new to research on flexibility. The 
literature includes numerous works on redundancy managers (Kets de Vries & 
Balazs, 1997; Schweiger, et al., 1987; Sahdev, 2003; Armstrong-Stassen & 
Schlosser, 2008), survivors (Brockner, et al., 1987; Devine, et al., 2003) or laid-off 
workers (Cappelli, 1992) which attest to the  physical and mental suffering 
engendered by redundancies (Noer, 2003; Leana & Feldman, 199 ; Molonsky & 
Margolis, 2005). Yet the academic community has skipped over trade-union 
leaders while their role is central in the management of employment flexibility 

M@n@gement
2014, vol. 17(5): 371-403 

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(Beaujolin-Bellet & Schmidt, 2012). As we see in the news (for example, the 
closures of Peugeot Aulnay and Goodyear Amiens Nord) and research on 
employer–employee relations (Rojot, 1994), site closures lead to strikes and 
disputes between workers and management (Fillieule  & Pechu, 1993). The  trade-
union leaders play a key role  in the  implementation of downsizing projects and in 
upholding a socially acceptable dispute (Beaujolin-Bellet & Grima, 2012). We 
emphasize that a laid-off leader differs from the average laid-off employee by his/
her high public profile and  his/her investment in actions which are  sometimes 
violent, which ruin his/her brand image on the job  market, and which may even 
prompt legal action to be taken against him/her. In attempting to understand how 
these leaders rebuild  their identities, we enrich research on redundancy by 
considering  the central actor, the true extreme case (Yinn, 1994), who faces an 
exacerbated threat to his identity which has so far been ignored. On the 
managerial or societal level, we instigate reflection on the support measures 
available to these actors, who are essential to the peaceful unfolding of company 
downsizings which are becoming more and more frequent. 
! This article is divided into three parts. Firstly, we employ the theoretical 
frameworks of identity salience  (Stryker, 1980; Thoits, 2012), self-categorization 
(Turner, et al., 1987, 1994), and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), and the 
critical analysis of identity (Watson, 2008) in order to define identity and identity 
work. We present the issues surrounding identity construction (Sainsaulieu, 1985; 
Watson, 2008; Dubar, 2011) within the framework of career transition (Latack, et 
al., 1995; Gowan, et al., 1999; Paris & Vickers, 2010) following redundancy, 
considered as a context of identity threat (Petriglieri, 2011). Then, after explaining 
our methodology, we shall present the results of our analyses of 50 life stories of 
trade-union leaders who  had to reconstruct their identities after the closure  of 
their company. Finally, the results will be discussed and contextualised. 

LITERATURE REVIEW

HOW DO WE DEFINE IDENTITY AND IDENTITY WORK?

! Defining identity is such a difficult task that “the more one writes about this 
topic, the  more the word becomes a term for something as unfathomable as it is 
all-pervasive” (Erikson, 1968; 5). Yet Pratt and Foreman (2000) encourage 
researchers working on this topic to  strive  towards a definition. In the works of 
Dubar (2011), identity may be defined on a basic level as the articulation of a 
twofold transaction, both internal to  the individual (self-identity) and external 
(social identity) between the  individual and the institutions with which he  is 
affiliated. The author defines it as “the simultaneously stable and temporary, 
individual and collective, subjective  and objective, biographical and structural 
result of the various processes of socialisation which, together, construct 
individuals and define institutions” (Dubar, 2011: 105). Identity is a continuous 
balancing act between how the individual defines himself and how he is defined.
! Far from being just one thing, identity, particularly its social aspect, is 
multifaceted. While  for some  (Merton, 1957; Goode, 1960), this plurality equates 
to conflicts between different roles and identity tensions, for others, the 
accumulation of different identities gives the individual the means to better 
manage  his/her social integration into diverse working  environments (Marks, 
1977; Thoits, 2012). Thoits (2012) points out that engaging in voluntary roles 
(such as those of trade-unionist or leader) seems to bring more benefits – and 
greater wellbeing – than engaging in non-voluntary roles (such as gender). 
Additionally, the theory of identity salience (Caller, 1985; Stryker, 1980; Thoits, 
1983) shows that the  individual does not accord the same importance to all his 

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2. We choose to employ the term “identity work” 
here.
3. We acknowledge, as Petriglieri (2011) urges, 
that identity work also has unconscious aspects. 
Nevertheless, following this author’s lead, we 
emphasize the conscious aspects, aware that 
introducing the unconscious would lead to a 
theoretical syncretism that would be difficult to 
justify. 

social identities. If he/she prioritises the social identity he/she  is pursuing, he/she 
will be more inclined to  accept trade-offs in his/her environment and to reinterpret 
his biographical identity. However, this is not easy step to take. 
! The works of Turner et al. (1987, 1994) on the theory of self-categorization 
show that identity oscillates between a biographical dimension and a social 
dimension. The individual can experience difficulties in distancing himself from 
the identity of the group  to which he belongs. Relational identity prevails over 
biographical identity. Consequently, because it is difficult for the individual to 
perceive himself as different from his/her social group, he/she accords no 
importance to the judgement of third parties who do  not belong to  this group. 
Knowles and Gardner (2008) stress that the mechanism of quasi-fusion between 
self-identity and the  identity of his group  intensifies when the individual’s sense of 
threat is shared with his fellow employees. The same applies when there is a 
marked difference between the group  to which he belongs and the outside (Terry 
& Hogg, 1996) or when the  identity salience comes through defining the group 
identity against other groups (Oakes, 1987). 
! Whether identity plurality is perceived as bringing  increased wellbeing or 
difficulties, commentators agree that it is complex, particularly its relational 
aspect. The individual can never know how other people see him/her (Gergen & 
Gergen, 1997; Ibarra, 1999). This casts doubt over whether identity for oneself 
and identity for another can indeed match up. The two identities do not always 
correlate. Adjustments take place, termed  “identity strategies”  by some and 
“identity work” by others (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002; Beech, 2008, 2011)2. 
Adopting a critical approach, Watson (2008:129) defines identity work as “the 
mutually constitutive processes whereby people strive to shape a relatively 
coherent and distinctive notion of personal self-identity and struggle  to come to 
terms with and, within limits, to influence the various social-identities which 
pertain to them in the various milieu in which they live their lives.”
! Building on these works, we will define identity work as the sum of the 
behaviours and attitudes developed consciously by an individual in order to 
coordinate his/her biographical and relational identities, which may be plural3. Our 
definition reflects the  commitment and investment that such coordination entails, 
as well as the prime importance that we accord to the professional sphere when 
accounting for the social aspect of identity (Sluss & Ashforth, 2007).  Sainsaulieu 
underscores that identity is defined as “the relational and social experience of 
power” (1985: 342). The individual encounters resistance in his/her self-
construction efforts. Relational investments in the areas of identity recognition 
that he desires are not a foregone conclusion. He/she does not always have the 
legitimacy or the resources (i.e. training or personal network) to obtain an identity 
that is desired by others. Identity work can prove  ineffective  (Thomas & Linstead, 
2002; Thornborrow & Brown, 2009). Other people deny the individual the social 
identities he/she claims to own (Crossley, 2000; Collinson, 2003). 
! Our decision to retain the term “identity work” rather than merely “identity” 
conveys our desire to underline the difficulty, or even the  destabilising nature, of 
the identity dynamic. The malleable nature of identity places the individual in 
stressful situations. He/she finds him/herself unable to meet the identity demands 
placed on him/her by his/her environment. The disparity between the identity he/
she  considers him/herself to have and that assigned to him/her by others is so 
great that he faces significant cognitive dissonance. He/she is therefore  obliged 
to react via coping mechanisms (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Identity work can be 
defined as the dynamics of regaining a coherent identity which is constantly 
threatened because people in the environment question its integrity. At the same 
time, however, other people can provide identity recognition (Gergen & Gergen, 
1997; Sims, 2003; Watson, 2009). Identity work is all the more difficult when the 
individual must move from one identity to another without being given the choice. 
The case study of role  transitions analysed  by Ashforth et al. (2000) shows that 

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identity flexibility ensues when the stability of the individual’s identity is 
threatened.  Being malleable  with respect to identity supposes a command of 
numerous interpersonal and biographical resources which the individual may not 
have or want to use. Identity work can give rise to an identity threat defined by 
Petriglieri (2011: 644) as “an experience appraised as indicating potential harm to 
the value, meanings, or enactment of an identity”. This definition of identity work 
sees the  loss of employment as a threat to identity. It is a complex situation in 
which the individual finds him/herself forced  to step  up  his/her identity work in 
order to manage  the disappearance of his/her old identity as a worker and 
construct another identity as a jobseeker. Thoits (2012) reminds us that 
performing a salient role leads to wellbeing, while losing it causes genuine 
suffering.

IDENTITY WORK WITHIN  A PROFESSIONAL  TRANSITION  CAUSED BY JOB 
LOSS: MANAGING AN IDENTITY THREAT

! The loss of one’s job  is clearly identified by the literature on professional 
transitions as a threat to identity (Latack et al., 1995; Gowan & Gatewood, 1997). 
Nevertheless, as far as we know, no author has so far suggested a model for 
explaining adjustment to this threat. On the other hand, in a more general 
context, Petriglieri (2011) proposes an overarching  analytical framework. She 
identifies three aspects around which the concept of identity threat can be 
structured. 
! The first aspect is an appraisal of the identity danger prompted by the 
transition that the person faces. Drawing on coping theories (Lazarus & Folkman, 
1984), Leana and Feldman (1994), like Gowan et al. (1999), show that an 
employee threatened with unemployment carries out a twofold appraisal of his 
situation. Firstly, he/she foresees a drop  in his standard of living  and asks him/
herself why this is happening. Secondly, he/she projects him/herself into the 
future and tries to envisage him/herself in a new job. Petriglieri (2011) suggests 
that two factors aggravate his perception of his identity threat.  The first is the 
significance he accords to the part of his identity that is directly threatened. On 
this subject, numerous commentators (Shrout et al., 1989; Sainsaulieu, 1985) 
consider workplace identity as the core of the  identity dynamic. Paris and Vickers 
(2010) report that employees who  are made redundant perceive  themselves as 
“lesser human beings”. Their identity work ceases. As Willott and Griffin (2004) 
note, the  transition from employment to unemployment can lead to resignation on 
the part of the individual (Eisenberg & Lazarsfeld, 1938). Paris and Vickers 
(2010) show that the worker never recovers the same tranquillity with regard to 
his identity, even after returning to work. The second factor is the extent to which 
the person is exposed to the identity threat. Recurrent or prolonged exposure 
renders the worker more fragile. Being  made unemployed is the situation that 
engenders the most extreme confrontation. The unemployed  person cannot avoid 
continuous self-questioning (Leana & Feldman, 1992).    
! The second aspect concerns the perception of a breakdown of the 
acquired identity. Petriglieri (2011) stresses three points. Firstly, identity becomes 
devalued as a result of the threat. Leana and Feldman (1992) show that 
unemployed people are perceived, both in the private and the professional 
spheres, as being in a problematic situation. The second point is that the 
meaning given to the worker’s life by his identity collapses. Paris and Vickers 
(2010) and Willott and Griffin (2004) show that the disappearance of this bedrock 
of identity has repercussions on other aspects of identity, such as gender. The 
male worker who is no longer able to access resources founded on his masculine 
identity through his work is forced into resignation (Martin, 1987).  His identity 
becomes overwhelmed by negative stereotypes occasioned by his environment. 
Finally, the unemployed person sees no way of imagining a future with his identity 

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thus threatened. He  experiences a loss against which he is powerless to act 
(Devine et al., 2003). The termination of employment for non-personal reasons 
often engenders a feeling of betrayal in employees who may have devoted many 
years to the  service of their company and its economic success (Mishra & 
Spreitzer, 1998; Pugh et al., 2003).  
! The third aspect of identity work concerns the sources of the  identity threat. 
Petriglieri (2011) isolates three: the victims themselves, third parties, and  the 
outside world. As for the first group, the author underlines that a dynamic of 
identity deconstruction can arise when the  individual becomes aware that his/h 
new identity is not compatible with the  former one, which he/she prizes. This 
perspective  corroborates the  model devised by Leana and Feldman (1990) which 
highlights the strain caused by the self-devaluation into which unemployed 
workers sink. The role of third parties constitutes another source of tension. For 
unemployed workers, the threats are manifold. Whether in the private  sphere, 
where the partner is destabilised within the couple by his or her new standing 
(Liem & Liem, 1988) or in the professional domain, where to be out of work is a 
handicap, the threats the unemployed person faces can multiply. These sources 
of identity threat can weigh down heavily on him/her as he/she tries to  construct 
his/her identity.  
! The reconstruction dynamic can engender many diverse situations. In 
terms of coping, i.e. in terms of all the cognitive and behavioural efforts put in 
place by the worker to reduce the likelihood of a difficult situation occurring 
(Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), our research shows the importance of taking on 
board all those resources which the worker in transition has available to him/her 
and which are  not fully covered by Petriglieri’s model (2011). Latack and Dozier 
(1995) point out that the unemployed person may have numerous resources at 
his/her disposal with which to deal with this undesirable professional transition. 
They distinguish two groups. 
! The first group  consists of personal characteristics. The less at ease the 
worker felt in the job  he/she has just lost, the more likely he/she is to find new 
work (Leana & Feldman, 1994). Similarly, the point in the worker’s career at 
which the redundancy occurs also plays a role. The older the employee (or, at the 
other end of the scale, the  younger he/she is), the more his/her transition is likely 
to be difficult (Kaufman, 1982). Louis (1980) and Wagner et al. (1987) show that 
seniority in the organisation reinforces links with the company, which makes the 
rupture more painful. According to Latack and Dozier (1986), the transition is 
easier in the middle of a career. These authors also stress the importance of the 
worker’s status. A manager will find a new position more easily because he has a 
good basic education and has also benefitted from continuous training allowing 
him to maintain this initial advantage. Turner (1995) indicates that low income 
increases the stress of unemployment. Lastly, gender also influences the 
management of the transition, although here the results seem less clear. While 
some claim, as noted above, that unemployment destabilizes masculine identity 
(Paris & Vickers, 2010); others maintain that low-qualified women who are 
nearing retirement also encounter serious difficulties (Hepworth, 1980). 
! A second group  of resources comprises environmental characteristics. 
Possessing sufficient financial resources to cope with future uncertainty 
occasioned by the  threat to  one’s identity is an important aspect of identity work 
(Leana & Feldman, 1994). The same is true of social support, whether this is 
provided by family, friends (DeFrank & Ivancevich, 1986) or professionals. Tzafir 
et al. (2006) show the positive impact of the latter. Thanks to the work of these 
professionals, affected individuals are  able to relativize the  difficulties they 
encounter and throw themselves into active job-seeking (Kinicki, 1985).  This aids 
their professional reconstruction. Lastly, the specific details of the transition play 
an essential role in the worker’s ability to bounce  back. The more the approach 
adopted  is explained clearly and perceived as fair by the worker, the less likely 

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the worker is to experience feelings of resentment of anger which prevent him 
from looking to the future and encourage him/her to enter into conflict with his 
former employer (Latack et al., 1995).  
! By relying on these resources, the unemployed worker can develop  
adjustment strategies. Gowan et al. (1999) differentiate between approaches 
focused on the problem, the emotion or the  symptom. In the first case, the 
unemployed person acts on the source of the stress. He/she  will put in place an 
action plan, gather information, and  plan a move. In the  second case, he/she 
interprets the situation in such a way that it appears less difficult to cope with. He/
she  can thus relativize the difficulty he/she is experiencing, or even dismiss it. 
Finally, in the last case, he/she transfers his energies to activities outside his/her 
professional sphere. Here, investment in community life brings significant 
compensations in terms of identity (Jahoda, 1972). 
! This first typology based on the theoretical coping grid  (Lazarus & 
Folkman, 1984) overlaps in part with the work of Petriglieri (201) concerning 
identity work. 
! Here we  encounter a conflict between the source of the measure and the 
realignment of the situation. Petriglieri (2011) sets out three configurations 
observed  in the workplace which aim to act on the source of the identity threat in 
order to protect the threatened identity.  In the first case, the person questions the 
relevance of third  parties for validating an identity.  He/she no longer accords 
them legitimacy for validating any identity. In the  second, he/she may also hide an 
identity which he/she feels to be threatened and  substitute it for one  that is easier 
to defend. Lastly, in the final case, he/she may act on the source of the identity 
threat by giving the third party information that is likely to dissuade  them from 
acting. 
! As for the  realignment, Petriglieri (2011) again highlights three  possible 
orientations. The employee who chooses the  first orientation will change the 
threatened identity, recalibrating the weight of this identity within his/her identity 
balance. Here we once again encounter the concept of identity salience (Styker, 
1980). With the second option, the  employee attempts to  change the meaning 
given to an identity. He/she mobilises both biographical and relational resources 
in order to  make this change happen. Finally, in the  last case, the employer may 
decide to leave the identity behind. Petriglieri (2011) cites the  example of nuns 
who, after Vatican II, saw the definition of their identity change to such an extent 
that a number of them did not wish to keep it (Ebaugh, 1988). 
! Collinson (2003) develops this finding of the heterogeneous nature of the 
adjustments made by individuals who face an identity threat. For his part, he 
outlines three possible positions. He  judges the individual to have  a stronger, 
more malleable identity than that proposed by the coping perspective. In the first 
position, which he qualifies as a conformist identity, the individual takes on the 
proposed identity, even if he is fearful of it. In the second position, called the 
“dramaturgical” identity, the individual is able to  fool those around him by 
presenting an adapted identity. The individual then navigates between the poles 
of acceptance and refusal. Finally, in the last option, that of resistance identity, 
the employee chooses to defend his identity despite the  price  he may have to 
pay, such as being side-lined by a reference group. 
! As this wide-ranging literature attests, when adjusting to an identity threat 
in a professional transition caused by a job  loss, the individual initially believes 
his/her situation surpasses the resources at his disposition. However, precisely 
by taking command of different resources, the employee may carry out identity 
adjustment. The diversity of these resources and their availability make this task 
difficult to understand, so numerous are the possibilities. The employee seems 
neither totally free nor totally constrained by his/her social environment. He/she 
retains his ability to co-author his identity, in both its biographical and relational 
aspects. All the same, the import of this research, following  on from research 

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previously carried out on trade-union leaders, allows us to propose two research 
hypotheses in relation to our initial question: “How do the  leaders of a labour 
dispute reconstruct their identities after a site  is closed? How do they manage the 
twofold identity rupture caused by losing their job  and losing their status as a 
representative of a disbanded body of workers?”
! First of all, the identity threat is acute for this sector of the population. 
Leaders not only lose their job, like other employees, but also their status as a 
trade-unionist and leader of a body of employees on strike (Beaujolin-Bellet and 
Grima, 2011). They are reduced to the status of the aging unemployed – a 
condition from which it is difficult to reconstruct one’s identity (Brewington & 
Nassar-McMillan, 2000; Riach & Loretto, 2009). However, as several works about 
activists stress (Fillieule, 2005; Guillaume, 2007; Leclercq & Pagis, 2011), this 
dual identity of leader and trade-unionist is important for employees (Fillieule & 
Pechu, 1993; Andolfatto & Labbé, 2011). Furthermore, the personal stories of 
numerous former trade-unionists (Larose, 2001; Roupnel-Fuentes, 2011) reveal 
that they face stigmatisation on the  job  market. No employer wishes to  hire an 
employee who  has demonstrated the ability to lead a labour dispute. These 
various characteristics make workers an extreme case in the sense given by Yin 
(1994). We advance  the following hypothesis: When former trade-union leaders 
are deprived of resources with which to  structure  their identity, the identity 
reconstruction work they carry out during their professional transition proves 
difficult. Drawing on identity salience theory (Stryker, 1980), Thoits (2012) 
stresses that the loss of a person’s central identity causes him suffering. 
According to works on self-categorisation (Turnet et al., 1987, 1994), this 
transition is difficult. The threat itself and the accompanying stigmatisation serve 
to reinforce the individual’s identity as a trade-union leader in charge  of a 
workforce on strike. Breaking free from this identity seems to necessitate intense 
identity work (Collinson, 2003) which is by no  means certain to be  effective. 
Petriglieri (2011) underlines that this focus on protection strategies for the 
threatened identity can lead to social isolation or even a feeling of inauthenticity, 
which amounts to increased stress. The presence  of social support reinforces the 
individual’s position with respect to his identity. This implantation is even greater if 
the identity has been anchored in the person for a long time. Petriglieri (2011) 
goes further by suggesting that the importance  of the identity leads the 
threatened person to accord greater value to  the source of his problems than to 
dissimulating or negating this identity.      
! Furthermore, the career paths of people such as Monsieur Lepaon, an ex-
CGT leader at Moulinex and the new general secretary of this same trade-union, 
and Monsieur Rabbi, an ex-CGT leader of the Cellatex company and the head of 
the textile federation for this same trade union, show that it is possible to find a 
new job, in these cases within a trade-union organisation. These facts lead us to 
our second hypothesis: some ex-leaders will enact a professional transition within 
their trade-union organisation. It is possible for an individual to reconstruct his 
identity within his trade-union. Active coping can be effective  (Lazarus & Folkman, 
1984). Contrary to the picture painted by identity salience theory (Thoits, 2012) 
and self-categorisation theory (Turner et al., 1987, 1994), the trade-union leader, 
like other employees, appears to possess the resources with which to create 
identity work, i.e. a professional rebound. Critical research (Collinson, 2003: 
Watson, 2008) on identity work, like  that on coping, can constitute a theoretical 
basis for this proposition, which contradicts our first one. Thanks to  the relational 
resources within his trade union, the leader has the ability to  carry out his 
professional transition and identity transition. Petriglieri (2011) stresses that a 
serious identity threat encourages the person to choose to  change  his identity.  
The view that the  old identity is on the way out encourages this choice. However, 
we do not have enough information to assert anything beyond the fact that 

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reconstruction within the  trade-union organisation is possible, as the various cited 
examples attest.  

METHODOLOGY 

DATA COLLECTION

! In order to achieve our research objectives, our data collection was based 
on the life-story approach (Essers, 2009: Goodley et al., 2004: McAdams, 1993). 
This is a pertinent method for obtaining a profound understanding  of identity work 
(Lutgen-Sandvik, 2008) and one which has already been mobilised in the context 
of career transitions (Cohen and Mallon, 2001: Marshall, 2000). 
! The data were collected between September 2007 and  December 2012. 
Fifty people who had led resistance to proposed job  cuts and  subsequently lost 
their jobs were interviewed. In order to find these people, we linked together 
several methods/processes. Firstly, we identified individuals by going through the 
archives of several national daily newspapers (l’Humanité, Libération, and Le 
Monde) to  find  the most widely covered labour disputes from the past fifteen 
years. Secondly, we contacted leaders of departmental and branch trade-unions, 
and lawyers and experts on business committees that we knew, and asked them 
to tell us the names of trade-union leaders who had led such movements. In 
order to  ensure  that they were “trade-union leaders” we triangulated several 
sources of information, from the press and contact networks, taking care to have 
at least two concurring sources of information for each case. We then had to 
move from the research to  finding these people, some of whom no longer had 
any contact with their former colleagues or with trade union members. To do this, 
we conducted  simultaneous research in telephone directories and contact 
networks. Afterwards, we proceeded by snowball sampling. When making the 
first contact with a view to organizing a meeting, we asked a few questions in 
order to verify that the person had indeed played a major role in the conflict (that 
they attended negotiations to devise a plan to save jobs, gave interviews to the 
media, filed lawsuits where applicable, held a position on the works council, etc.). 
! Seeking  to expose both public and private life and, often, to talk about 
traumatic and painful events, we made sure, following the example of Essers 
(2009), to inspire trust. Through the process of identification by reputation and 
through snowball sampling, we contacted only individuals for whom we received 
recommendations. We let them choose the interview place – their current place of 
work, the departmental trade union premises or, most often, their home. We 
systematically took the time to  introduce ourselves to each participant, setting out 
our approach, and  answering their questions before we started the interview 
proper. We  undertook to treat the data collected anonymously and to send  the 
participants the results of our research. In the  end we received very few interview 
refusals, and we often had the feeling that the interview was fulfilling a freedom of 
speech role, for people who  had possibly never spoken about these  events since 
they occurred. Overall our stance was to accord these people recognition for the 
role they performed and to empathise with them. 
! In conjunction with the snowball method of identification, we took care to 
obtain interviews with a wide  range of different personal profiles (regarding age, 
sex, trade union to which they belonged, current professional status) who had 
acted in different contexts (varying size  and sector of the company, region, and 
scale of the  restructuring). Our interviewees were as follows: 15 women and 35 
men, aged between 38 and 64 years old (average age: 48 years), resident in 17 
French departments, with 23 affiliated with the CGT, 19 with the CFDT, 5 with the 
FO  and 3 to the CFTC. Before their redundancy, they were either manual workers 

M@n@gement, vol. 17(5): 371-403! François Grima �Rachel Beaujolin 

378



(28) or technicians or supervisors (22); they had been with their company for an 
average  of 23 years. They worked in industrial sectors often said to be in crisis 
(metalworking, the defense industry, textiles and clothing, leather, food 
processing, photography, etc.). These individuals lost their jobs in downsizing 
operations that occurred 2 to 3 years before our interview. At the time of the 
interview, 21 people were absent from the  job  market or retired  (i.e. in long-term 
unemployment, unstable contract work, early retirement or retirement) and  29 
people had found a job  or had signed up  to a professional redevelopment 
programme. 
! The interviews lasted  between one and three hours. Following the 
recommendations of McAdams (1993), we asked the people  we met to tell us 
their personal stories in chapters structured around the following events: the start 
of their working life, the start of their engagement in the trade-union, the 
announcement of the final redundancy measures they witnessed, the unfolding of 
the labour dispute, their departure from the company, and  their current situation. 
We wanted to gain a broad  overview of the professional trajectory of the leader in 
order to better understand the  resources to which he  had access. The interviews 
were designed to draw out the individuals’ interpretations. They were not carried 
out in a very leading fashion, meaning that participants could express on their 
own any possible links between the events, ambiguities or contradictions that 
they experienced (Cohen & Mallon, 2001). At the end of the interviews, if the 
interviewees had  not spontaneously broached these issues, we asked them more 
precise questions about their identity as a trade-union leader, as an employee, as 
a laid-off worker, as a parent and as a spouse. We also asked them about the 
image fed back to them during and after the  dispute by employees, company 
directors, job  market intermediaries, trade-union heads, and their own family 
members. We supplemented and enriched our understanding of labour disputes 
in response to planned job  cuts – the context in which each interviewee  acted – 
by conducting a press review of each case.

DATA ANALYSIS

! The data analysis was carried out in line with grounded theory (Glaser & 
Strauss, 1967) in three phases.  In the first phase, we reconstructed the chain of 
events for each person, paying particular attention to moments of rupture and the 
articulation of forms of change  in the identity work.   In the second phase, we 
carried out a thematic content analysis supported by double coding. The process 
was iterative. Each new interview served to question the interpretative structure 
applied up  until then. We especially took our cues from phrases that signified self-
definition (e.g. “I’m someone who…”: “I’ve never been able to stand…”) or which 
pointed to emotions that the person felt (e.g. “And then I knew that…”, “Then, I 
broke down”, “It was really hard…”, etc.) or those that showed how the person felt 
themselves observed by others (For the employees, I was…”). In the last phase, 
we classed each individual and drew up  a table composed of 33 criteria (e.g. sex, 
age, age when they joined  the union, union organization, seniority, post occupied 
pre-redundancy, current situation, number of downsizing operations experienced, 
role played in the trade-union, acceptance of the trade-union engagement by the 
spouse, marital situation before and after the labour dispute, initial qualifications, 
etc.) We then examined these three elements in order to frame our analysis in 
terms of the nature of the specific identity threats faced by these resistance 
leaders who led disputes against proposed job  cuts, and in order to construct a 
typology of reconstruction dynamics developed by individuals.  
! More precisely, taking inspiration from Gioia et al. (2012), we firstly 
employed an initial interpretative grid based essentially on the words of our 
interviewees (first level of analysis). However, unlike these authors, our first look 
at the data was theoretically oriented  (Locke, 2001). We were able to integrate 

Reconstructing Identity After a Labor Dispute! M@n@gement, vol. 17(5): 371-403

379



theoretical grids from the start of our analysis, so developed was our 
theoretically-constructed background when we arrived in the field. Afterwards, a 
second coding was carried out, based even more strongly on the literature. At the 
end of this process, we isolated three identity balances characterised by the 
strategies and tactics used to mobilise resources. We maintain the definitions of 
Rojot (1994), who conceives strategy as “the  organising  framework that 
underpins actions, attitudes and behaviours” and tactics as “specific movements 
selected with the aim of implementing the chosen strategy” (Rojot, 1004: 100). 
This led us to produce what we will call a data structure similar to that proposed 
by Gioia et al. (2012) (Table 1). This in turn allows us to update the structure  of 
our thought by moving from an analysis of tactics to strategies and  resources, 
and concluding with identity balances (Table 2). 

Table 1. Data structureTable 1. Data structureTable 1. Data structureTable 1. Data structure

Tactics Strategies Resources Identity 
balances

Discredit the validity of 
the discourse of the 
sources of the threat
Maintain the dynamic of 
the resistant collective

Continue the Fight 
Perceived betrayal by 
management
Limited activist capital
Family tradition of 
trade-union 
engagement
Lack of economic 
constraint

Identity tension

Reframe past actions
Minimise grudges and 
disagreements in the 
collective 

Use one’s memory

Perceived betrayal by 
management
Limited activist capital
Family tradition of 
trade-union 
engagement
Lack of economic 
constraint

Identity tension

Become a re-
employment officer
Promote re-
employment 

Be effective in each 
person’s professional 
reconstruction 

Augmented activist 
capital
Absence  of family 
tradition of trade-union 
engagement
Strong economic 
constraint

In-between

Emotional and 
behavioural 
overinvestment
Assist by proxy

Extend the meaning of 
these tasks

Augmented activist 
capital
Absence  of family 
tradition of trade-union 
engagement
Strong economic 
constraint

In-between

Build oneself a warrior 
image
Give more prestige to 
the new professional 
identity

Stay positive about 
career prospects Augmented activist 

capital
Absence  of family 
tradition of trade-union 
engagement
Disillusionment with 
trade-union practices
Strong economic 
constraint
Social revenge

Turning the page

Gather information on 
the transition
Embrace the old 
identity

Be effective in personal 
reconstruction

Augmented activist 
capital
Absence  of family 
tradition of trade-union 
engagement
Disillusionment with 
trade-union practices
Strong economic 
constraint
Social revenge

Turning the page

! At the end  of this process, we sought to validate our analyses. We  used 
two separate means. Firstly, we presented our results to 11 trade-union leaders 
both from the sample (5 cases) and outside of it (6 cases). This gave rise to a 
sustained debate which led us to develop  our analyses, particularly with respect 
to the resources used. Next, we  undertook a double coding analysis. We 
employed the method of Miles and Huberman (1994) to  evaluate the inter-coder 
reliability (number of agreements/number of agreements plus number of 
disagreements) relative to the identity work strategies and the resources 
mobilised. We arrived at a result of 80% (higher than 70%, Miles & Huberman, 
1994). Three  cases were problematic to interpret. There was some  toing and 
froing between the two coders before they reached full agreement. 

M@n@gement, vol. 17(5): 371-403! François Grima �Rachel Beaujolin 

380



Ta
bl

e 
2.

 T
ac

tic
s 

m
ob

ili
se

d
Ta

bl
e 

2.
 T

ac
tic

s 
m

ob
ili

se
d

Ta
ct

ic
s

E
xe

m
pl

ar
y 

qu
ot

es

D
is

cr
ed

it 
th

e 
va

lid
ity

 o
f t

he
 

di
sc

ou
rs

e 
of

 th
e 

so
ur

ce
s 

of
 

th
e 

th
re

at

“T
he

 p
re

fe
ct

 is
 tr

yi
ng

 to
 m

ak
e 

us
 b

el
ie

ve
 th

at
 it

 is
 u

se
le

ss
 to

 c
on

tin
ue

 to
 p

ro
te

st
, b

ut
 h

e’
s 

w
ro

ng
. W

ith
ou

t t
hi

s 
ac

tio
n 

w
e 

ha
ve

 n
o 

ch
an

ce
 o

f a
ch

ie
vi

ng
 o

ur
 g

oa
ls

.”
“T

he
 lo

ca
l p

re
ss

 th
in

ks
 th

e 
m

ov
em

en
t i

s 
dy

in
g 

ou
t b

ut
 it

’s
 n

ot
. W

e’
re

 u
ni

te
d 

an
d 

w
ill

in
g 

to
 k

ee
p 

up
 th

e 
pr

es
su

re
. I

 re
gu

la
rly

 in
vi

te
 th

em
 to

 c
om

e 
an

d 
se

e 
us

.

M
ai

nt
ai

n 
th

e 
dy

na
m

ic
 o

f t
he

 
re

si
st

an
t c

ol
le

ct
iv

e
“I’

m
 d

ut
y-

bo
un

d 
to

 a
ct

 s
o 

th
at

 th
e 

co
lle

ct
iv

e 
st

ay
s 

to
ge

th
er

. I
 c

an
’t 

do
 it

 a
lo

ne
. W

e 
or

ga
ni

se
 o

ur
 fr

ie
nd

s.
 W

e 
se

nd
 e

m
ai

ls
. I

’m
 g

oi
ng

 to
 v

is
it 

pe
op

le
 a

t t
he

ir 
ho

m
es

 
to

 te
ll 

th
em

 h
ow

 w
e’

re
 g

et
tin

g 
on

.”
“It

’s
 n

ot
 e

as
y 

to
 k

ee
p 

th
in

gs
 to

ge
th

er
 b

ec
au

se
 th

e 
“e

ve
ry

 m
an

 fo
r h

im
se

lf”
 a

pp
ro

ac
h 

qu
ic

kl
y 

ta
ke

s 
ov

er
. T

he
re

 a
re

 p
eo

pl
e 

w
ho

 d
on

’t 
w

an
t t

o 
he

ar
 a

 w
or

d 
ab

ou
t 

th
e 

co
m

pa
ny

 b
ut

 I’
m

 fi
gh

tin
g 

fo
r u

s 
to

 s
ta

y 
to

ge
th

er
 to

 o
bt

ai
n 

re
su

lts
. I

 c
al

l p
eo

pl
e,

 I 
se

e 
pe

op
le

 in
 th

ei
r h

om
es

. I
 in

vi
te

 th
em

 to
 c

al
l i

n.
 I 

se
nd

 th
em

 c
op

ie
s 

of
 th

e 
le

tte
rs

 I 
w

rit
e.

” 

R
ef

ra
m

e 
pa

st
 a

ct
io

ns
“T

ha
nk

s 
to

 a
ll 

of
 o

ur
 e

ffo
rts

, t
he

 re
du

nd
an

cy
 s

ch
em

e 
w

e 
ne

go
tia

te
d 

is
 a

n 
ex

am
pl

e 
in

 th
e 

re
gi

on
. T

he
 p

re
ss

 h
ig

hl
ig

ht
ed

 th
e 

re
su

lts
 w

e 
ob

ta
in

ed
.” 

M
in

im
is

e 
gr

ud
ge

s 
an

d 
di

sa
gr

ee
m

en
ts

 in
 th

e 
co

lle
ct

iv
e

“It
’s

 tr
ue

 th
at

 th
e 

m
ov

em
en

t s
om

et
im

es
 w

en
t t

oo
 fa

r. 
C

er
ta

in
 p

eo
pl

e 
w

er
e 

he
ck

le
d,

 a
nd

 b
ui

ld
in

gs
 a

nd
 m

ac
hi

ne
s 

w
er

e 
da

m
ag

ed
. B

ut
 th

at
’s

 a
 v

er
y 

sm
al

l e
le

m
en

t. 
Th

is
 is

 n
ot

 w
ar

!”
“W

e 
do

n’
t a

lw
ay

s 
ag

re
e 

bu
t w

e 
al

w
ay

s 
m

an
ag

e 
to

 fi
nd

 a
 s

ol
ut

io
n 

to
ge

th
er

. E
ve

ry
on

e 
m

ak
es

 a
n 

ef
fo

rt 
be

ca
us

e 
w

e 
ca

n’
t a

ffo
rd

 n
ot

 to
 a

gr
ee

. W
e 

ha
ve

 to
 m

ov
e 

fo
rw

ar
d.

”
B

ec
om

e 
a 

re
-e

m
pl

oy
m

en
t 

of
fic

er
“I 

go
 to

 th
e 

re
de

pl
oy

m
en

t u
ni

t e
ve

ry
 d

ay
 a

nd
 ta

lk
 to

 th
e 

ad
vi

so
rs

 a
nd

 e
ac

h 
of

 th
e 

w
or

ke
rs

. I
f s

om
e 

pe
op

le
 s

to
p 

co
m

in
g,

 I 
ca

ll 
th

em
 o

r I
 g

o 
to

 s
ee

 th
em

.”
“If

 I 
he

ar
 th

at
 s

om
eo

ne
 h

as
 p

ro
bl

em
s 

w
ith

 th
ei

r r
e-

em
pl

oy
m

en
t s

tra
te

gi
es

 a
nd

 I 
kn

ow
 s

om
eo

ne
 w

ho
 c

an
 h

el
p 

th
em

, I
 d

on
’t 

he
si

ta
te

. I
 d

id
 it

 re
ce

nt
ly

 w
ith

 a
 

w
or

ke
r b

y 
ca

lli
ng

 a
 p

er
so

n 
fro

m
 h

ea
d 

of
fic

e 
w

ho
 w

as
 a

bl
e 

to
 h

el
p 

hi
m

 c
ho

os
e 

th
e 

rig
ht

 le
ga

l s
ta

tu
s 

fo
r h

is
 b

us
in

es
s.

”

P
ro

m
ot

e 
re

-e
m

pl
oy

m
en

t 
“P

eo
pl

e 
ge

t d
is

co
ur

ag
ed

 a
ll 

th
e 

tim
e.

 In
 o

ur
 re

gi
on

 it
’s

 n
ot

 e
as

y.
 S

o 
I g

o 
to

 s
ee

 th
em

 a
nd

 I 
re

m
in

d 
th

em
 a

bo
ut

 s
o-

an
d-

so
 w

ho
 s

uc
ce

ed
ed

, a
nd

 I 
te

ll 
th

em
 th

at
 

th
ey

 s
til

l h
av

e 
tim

e,
 th

er
e 

ar
e 

st
ill

 a
ve

nu
es

 to
 e

xp
lo

re
.”

“L
as

t w
ee

k 
I r

em
in

de
d 

X
 th

at
 g

iv
en

 h
is

 a
ge

 a
nd

 w
ha

t h
e’

d 
do

ne
 in

 th
e 

co
m

pa
ny

, h
e 

w
as

 e
nt

itl
ed

 to
 a

pp
ly

 fo
r a

 p
re

m
at

ur
e 

de
pa

rtu
re

 fr
om

 a
ct

iv
e 

lif
e.

” 

E
m

ot
io

na
l a

nd
 b

eh
av

io
ur

al
 

ov
er

in
ve

st
m

en
t 

“I 
do

n’
t w

an
t t

o 
le

av
e 

m
y 

ex
-c

ol
le

ag
ue

s 
w

ith
 n

o 
as

si
st

an
ce

 e
ve

n 
if 

I k
no

w
 th

at
 e

ve
ry

th
in

g’
s 

be
en

 d
on

e.
 S

o 
I g

o 
to

 s
ee

 th
em

, I
 li

st
en

 to
 th

em
; I

 tr
y 

to
 m

ak
e 

th
em

 
fe

el
 b

et
te

r.”
 

A
ss

is
t b

y 
pr

ox
y

“In
 m

y 
un

io
n 

or
ga

ni
sa

tio
n 

I’m
 c

om
m

itt
ed

 to
 b

ei
ng

 fl
ex

ib
le

. P
eo

pl
e 

in
 th

e 
re

gi
on

 k
no

w
 th

at
 I 

ha
ve

 e
xp

er
ie

nc
e 

an
d 

th
ey

 a
sk

 fo
r m

e.
 I 

ne
ve

r s
ay

 n
o.

 F
or

 m
e 

it’
s 

a 
m

or
al

 o
bl

ig
at

io
n.

” 

B
ui

ld
 o

ne
se

lf 
a 

w
ar

rio
r i

m
ag

e
“I 

m
ad

e 
m

ys
el

f w
ha

t I
 a

m
. E

ve
ry

th
in

g 
I k

no
w

 p
ro

fe
ss

io
na

lly
, I

 o
w

e 
to

 m
y 

w
or

k.
 I 

kn
ow

 h
ow

 to
 d

ea
l w

ith
 c

ha
ng

e 
so

 I 
kn

ow
 th

at
 I’

ll 
co

m
e 

th
ro

ug
h 

th
is

.”

G
iv

e 
m

or
e 

pr
es

tig
e 

to
 th

e 
ne

w 
pr

of
es

si
on

al
 id

en
tit

y 
“I’

m
 g

oi
ng

 to
 d

o 
th

e 
ex

am
s 

to
 b

ec
om

e 
a 

so
ci

al
 w

or
ke

r. 
W

or
ki

ng
 w

ith
 y

ou
ng

 p
eo

pl
e 

ha
s 

al
w

ay
s 

ap
pe

al
ed

 to
 m

e.
 I 

co
m

e 
fro

m
 a

 ro
ug

h 
ar

ea
. I

t i
s 

a 
go

od
 jo

b.
 Y

ou
 

ke
ep

 a
 ta

st
e 

of
 th

e 
co

lle
ct

iv
e.

 It
’s

 a
 jo

b 
th

at
 m

ak
es

 s
en

se
.” 

G
at

he
r i

nf
or

m
at

io
n 

on
 th

e 
tra

ns
iti

on
“I 

kn
ew

 I 
ha

d 
to

 a
ct

 fa
st

. I
 h

ad
 a

lre
ad

y 
th

ou
gh

t a
bo

ut
 it

, m
ad

e 
co

nt
ac

ts
. I

n 
th

e 
ce

nt
re

 I 
ha

d 
a 

go
od

 re
la

tio
ns

hi
p 

w
ith

 th
e 

ad
vi

so
r. 

A
s 

th
e 

co
m

pa
ny

 g
av

e 
m

on
ey

, I
 

w
as

 a
bl

e 
to

 s
et

 u
p 

m
y 

ba
r v

er
y 

qu
ic

kl
y.

”

E
m

br
ac

e 
th

e 
ol

d 
id

en
tit

y
“I’

m
 n

ot
 le

av
in

g 
(m

y 
ro

le
 a

s 
a 

tra
de

-u
ni

on
 le

ad
er

) w
ith

 n
ot

hi
ng

. I
t h

as
 b

ee
n 

an
 e

xt
ra

or
di

na
ry

 e
xp

er
ie

nc
e.

 I 
le

ar
ne

d 
a 

lo
t i

n 
a 

ve
ry

 s
ho

rt 
tim

e.
 In

 a
n 

em
er

ge
nc

y 
yo

u 
ha

ve
 to

 fi
nd

 s
ol

ut
io

ns
, o

th
er

w
is

e 
it 

co
st

s 
yo

u.
 I 

kn
ow

 I 
ca

n’
t m

en
tio

n 
it 

on
 m

y 
C

V
 b

ut
 I 

al
so

 k
no

w
 th

at
 I 

ca
n 

do
 th

in
gs

 n
ow

 th
at

 I 
w

ou
ld

n’
t h

av
e 

do
ne

 b
ef

or
e.

 
Fo

r e
xa

m
pl

e,
 I’

m
 m

uc
h 

le
ss

 im
pr

es
si

on
ab

le
. I

 fi
nd

 it
 e

as
ie

r t
o 

sp
ea

k 
in

 fr
on

t o
f a

 g
ro

up
, e

ve
n 

if 
it’

s 
bi

g.
” 

Reconstructing Identity After a Labor Dispute! M@n@gement, vol. 17(5): 371-403

381



4. In the rest of this document, the terms “identity 
b a l a n c e s ” a n d “ p r o fi l e s ” w i l l b e u s e d 
interchangeably.

RESULTS

! Our data analysis allowed us to identify three identity balances1: identity 
tension (21 cases), in-between (13 cases) and identity rupture (16 cases).  A 
choice governs this typology: whether to continue being the union leader of a 
body of workers on strike, or whether to stop  in order to acquire a new 
professional identity. 

TENSION, IN-BETWEEN AND IDENTITY RUPTURE

! Identity tension signals the leader’s desire to remain the leader of this 
group, which gets smaller and smaller over time. The strike called in response to 
the closure  is conceived as a moment of brotherhood that people want to 
prolong. A veritable fusional identity is born for the  leader, which he or she wants 
to make last: “My role  is to make sure  we stay united to win our case. Together 
we’ve already gained  a lot, but if we stay together we’ll gain even more”. The 
identity work looks to the  past and the maintenance of the past identity. The 
leader makes no individual identity projection. He or she becomes the “guardian 
of the  temple” of the strikers - the former body of employers of a company that 
has disappeared. On this point, in 5 cases we had the option of gaining access to 
other laid-off employees who had  never held the position of leader. Their words 
on the subject were very clear: “She (the leader) is the soul of the dispute. She 
isn’t alone but she has a unique role. She carries the group. She gives herself to 
it completely”. The leader considers having a debt to the group  that he or she 
represents. 
! In contrast, the two other balances – the in-between and the rupture – 
focus on giving prestige to the  emerging professional identity. In the first case, the 
leader refuses to choose between his past identity of leader and the new identity 
being constructed: “I can’t choose. I’m both at the same time: a leader of the 
former employees of X and a national head of the trade-union”. Very quickly re-
employed or promised to be re-employed within the trade-union structure, 
individuals try to maintain their commitment to the group  by continuing to identify 
as a leader of a body of ex-strikers of a defunct company, at the same time as 
reconstructing themselves as trade-unionists acting on a regional or national 
level. A functional duality of identity emerges: the investment in the role of leader 
of a group  on strike constitutes an identity resource which is then used in the new 
trade-union activity: “Having been one of the leaders lends a certain legitimacy to 
my new role. No-one can call me  an apparatchik. I know what leading a dispute 
entails”. Finally, with the  identity rupture, the leader chooses to focus on 
developing his new professional identity independently of the former strikers and 
the world  of the  trade union. His or her reconstruction occurs in isolation from 
these reference points. The identity of leader now belongs to his or her 
professional past. It is no longer mobilized the new professional activity as such, 
even though the skills and experiences are useful to the ex-leader in his or her 
new professional identity: “I’m no longer the leader of X dispute. I was, but I am 
no  more. Now I’m a training specialist. I learned a lot during that fight about 
myself and about others. It stays with me, I make use of it in my work, but the fact 
of having been a leader has no direct bearing on my professional practice”. 
! After introducing the strategies and tactics used in each case, we will 
present the resources behind them and their results in terms of professional re-
employment and personal balance. 

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IDENTITY TENSION: REMAINING A LEADER

Carrying on the fight
! The leader refuses to perceive the closure of the company as the end of 
his unionist and leader identities. For him the  fight continues. Here he develops 
two tactics. 
! With the first, according to the  analyses of Petriglieri (2011) and  Collinson 
(2003), he  discredits the validity of the discourse of the  sources of the identity 
threat: “For me the dispute isn’t over. Management would have us believe it, as 
would  many politicians. But for me, the closure is one stage in a process that 
comprises many legal phases. I am the representative of a collective which is still 
fighting even though the fight has taken on other forms.” The action concerns the 
company management, public authorities and the  press, or even other trade 
unions. The passage of time does not help  the cause, and being understood by 
those around them proves difficult: “We don’t have the same audience in the 
region now, let alone across the country!” Several interviewees underline that this 
downturn is sometimes reinforced by the emergence of other closures which are 
more of a media sensation because they involve bigger companies: “How on 
earth can we make ourselves heard when a group  like T is closing a site?”  This 
weak presence on the  television or in the press drives the leader to prefer other 
sources of communication for his counter-discourse, such as the internet: “We’ve 
set up  a blog”. Leaders also stress the benefit of participating in solidarity 
protests with other movements: “We show that we’re still alive and still capable of 
mobilising”.  
! The second tactic consists of keeping together the collective who went on 
strike. The first tactic was about making the group  present in the outside world; 
here, the aim is to make the collective live on internally in resistance. Once again, 
the work is not easy. The leader can no longer count on the coordinating space of 
the workplace or on media pressure to bind the collective together. He or she 
then takes on outreach work which takes the form of regular telephone calls to 
check up  on the most vulnerable workers: “I keep  in touch with my old 
colleagues. I see them at their houses. I encourage the most motivated among 
them to see  those who we feel are losing heart. I try to maintain the solidarity 
dynamic that was present during the strike”. The leader also organises meetings 
to keep  former colleagues up  to date on the legal action taken, as well as 
informal evenings at which he or she aims to keep  attendance high by introducing 
a convivial element such as a barbecue. 

Making use of memory
! In order to remain the leader of a group  that is objectively disappearing, the 
leader carries out significant memory work based on the employment of two 
tactics. 
! With the first, the leader re-casts the meaning of past events. This tactic 
may be compared to the positive distinction work described by Petriglieri (2011) 
or the symptom-focused threat management strategy (Gowan et al., 1999). It is 
about re-interpreting the first results obtained in a positive  light. The 21 
individuals who took on this profile claim to have obtained “the best redundancy 
package ever seen in France”. They stress that the diverse interests of the 
workers (youths, seniors, permanent employees and contract workers) were 
respected: “We really achieved a redundancy scheme that respected everyone. 
There  were no favourites”. This judgement was supported in every case by the 
opinion of a third-party specialist (journalist, work inspector, trade unionist): “you 
only need to read the press to see that the package is very good.” The collective 
is described as motivated and still active. 
! Through memory work, the leader becomes the head of an association of 
former workers which produces books of personal stories and poems, or even a 

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film which retells the dispute: “The association is both a force of opposition and a 
place to  recharge for many people. For me, it’s the place where I can keep  the 
group  alive”. The ex-leader puts forward a new weighting  of the key elements of 
the dispute by advancing a global view of it. Far from making a clear distinction 
between the  dispute and its aftermath, he brings together these two phases and 
suggests looking  at the  results at the  end  of the legal process: “It’s at the end of 
the ball that you pay the  musicians. The closure is just the first stage. Let’s wait 
until the end of the proceedings. On the  other side, they’re not calm. I understand 
them. Here on our side, we know we’re going to win”.  
! The second strategy accompanies the  first move to accord prestige. The 
leader tends to omit or minimise the negative elements of the collective dynamic, 
like disagreements between strikers or violence, which is explained away as acts 
by desperate or extremist elements: “You can’t control everything. The source of 
the violence should be examined before the strikers are blamed. Who is behind 
this violence? It’s the bosses, whose  behaviour drives employees to extremes.” 
On the contrary, the leader insists that the strikers proved  they were responsible 
by stressing that the public authorities recognised this aspect: “In the face of 
humiliation we kept our dignity. They weren’t able to make us crack and resort to 
violence. The labour movement is first and foremost about the dignity of the fight. 
The police commissioner recognised our efforts.”  Without denying the 
disagreements that occurred between the strikers, the union leader stresses the 
democratic operation of the collective: “We decide everything together”. 
! As we have seen with these two tactics, the  leader does not undertake any 
action to construct him/herself a new identity. He or she remains the  trade-union 
leader of a group  that went on strike: “When you have  those kinds of 
responsibilities, you can’t think about yourself. You have to think about the group. 
In any case, I stayed on after the dispute  to look after my colleagues’ interests. I’ll 
think about myself later.”

Varied identity resources
! This identity balance mobilises four resources that underpin the strategies 
used. Bitterness and resentment aside, the examination of the closure of the 
company was not transparent. On the  contrary, the leader clearly felt betrayed: 
“After all the years you gave to the company, the personal sacrifices you made in 
terms of hours of work and money, when you learn all of a sudden that your site 
is being shut down although its making 9% profit, you can’t help  but feel anger, 
resentment, and  a desire  to smash everything up”.  This leader found out by 
accident about the closure of the site.  A trade-union representative describes 
how he discovered the  site was closing when he found some articles 
manufactured  by another site  among the stock in transit, whereas only stock 
made on that site should have been present. Another recalls how he, along with 
some colleagues, was providing security surveillance on weekends in May, on 
one of which he saw the local director in the process of dismantling the 
machines.  Several interviewees pointed to the duplicity of managers who 
continued until the  last minute to insist that the  site would remain open. One 
representative recalled  how he found himself in a delicate situation on the shop 
floor when a government representative had just announced  the  closure of the 
site whereas the  Human Resources director had assured groups of workers 
assembled in the yard just one hour earlier that the company would never close. 
Another remembered one of the establishment’s directors wishing  the site  a long 
life –  four months later he closed it. A strong wish for revenge was in evidence: 
“When you’re faced with so much injustice and so  many lies, you can’t sweep  it 
under the carpet. You have to react.” 
! Afterwards, leaders possess activist capital (Matonti & Poupeau, 2004). 
Their engagement in the trade-union is on the local level. Having worked in the 
same business for many years (more than 25 on average), they have never been 

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called  by the local branch of the trade-union to carry out training or do a piece of 
work. They have no mentor within the structure to  help  their career change. 
Furthermore, we were told in one interview with a local director that his profile 
was not considered attractive by his regional trade-union structure.  He had 
joined the union on a local level, when young, and had fought to extend the 
influence of his organisation: “For me, trade-unionism is in-the-field, not in the 
umbrella group’s offices. I never wanted  to  be there.” This leader’s engagement 
caused him to be overtaken quickly in technical matters in his professional field. 
A lack of training and experience in the  field often lead to professional 
marginalisation which the individual accepts: “It’s true that I’m not very 
employable now. I would no longer describe myself as a good professional.”   
! Thirdly, the leader may follow in a family traditional which legitimizes his 
trade-union engagement. In several cases, the ex-leader knew people in his 
situation before the dispute who provided behavioural models of investment in 
the collective after the dispute. One ex-leader explains: “In my family, no-one 
would  have understood  if I’d deserted  my colleagues after the closure  of the site. 
When you’re the  leader of a dispute, like a military general, you don’t leave your 
troops alone after a lost battle. On the contrary, that’s when they need you most. 
I’m not a hero, but a guy who does what he has to  do.” Here we saw cases of 
siblings, couples or generations of the same  family who had led disputes 
together. Aside from family traditions, it seems that leaders could  not leave  their 
former colleagues alone after the closure without risking serious conflict in the 
private sphere. Paradoxically, although the literature presents social support, in 
all its forms, as a resource  which facilitates professional transition, here it is the 
opposite. It is a powerful obstacle to  an identity transition towards a new identity, 
since its biographical resources (family ties) perpetuate identity tension. 
! Finally, this orientation away from a return to the employment market relies 
on overcoming an economic constraint. The ex-leader was often (in 15 cases) an 
elderly manual worker (over 55), with no dependent children in 14 out of 21 
cases. In such cases, the redundancy scheme provided that he did not have to 
look for new work, granting  him a premature departure from active life or a work 
dispensation. In 8 cases, the leader could count on the financial support of his 
wife. His economic stability was therefore assured. 
! Identity tension implies intense  identity work which is heightened if the 
situation becomes increasingly different from the scenario envisaged, i.e. a group 
of strikers standing shoulder to shoulder around their leader. One leader 
explained, “I’ve lost my battalion. I’m like  a General without an army”. Although 
leaders perceive this discrepancy, their belief in a remedy from the  Justice 
system for the prejudice suffered, combined with the different resources 
described above, mean that they do not experience identity-related suffering. On 
the contrary, they feel firmly on-track and socially useful to the group  to which 
they are committed: “I’m where I should be. I’m not suffering because I’m where 
it’s at. I’m fighting unacceptable  injustices. I’m sure that by collective action we’ll 
achieve good results together. I admit that I’m a bit weary. People come less 
often. That’s only natural, but on big occasions, everyone’s here! Everyone plays 
their part and has a duty to play it for the common good.” 

BETWEEN TWO  IDENTITIES: REDEFINING  ONESELF FROM  THE TOP 
DOWN? 

Being effective in each person’s professional reconstruction 
! The leader is dedicated  to the  professional re-employment of his 
colleagues. This is a tactic for resolving identity questioning  which is focused on 
the source of the problem. Two tactics are implemented. 
! With the first, the leader becomes a re-employment officer. He or she 
participates actively in the choices of re-employment providers. In order to do so, 

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he  or she  makes enquiries to the union of the individual concerned and asks for 
information on the  professionalism of the consultants: “I called the trade-union at 
national level to get advices about the choice of the redeployment unit. I asked to 
be  given the  telephone numbers of other people who  had used their services.” 
Leaders regularly ask, in follow-up  meetings, for the  results for each staff 
category, and do not hesitate to switch to other means if the situation calls for it. 
In addition, they contact their former Human Resources manager to plead the 
cases of certain people: “There were  several people in the  group  who  had been 
worn down. There  was one in particular who we felt was on the verge of doing 
something  stupid. To avoid the worst, I paid particular attention to his file and 
managed to obtain him a transfer to another site.” Leaders may even mobilise 
public authorities or the press to achieve their aims: “I had no hesitation in giving 
an interview to the local press explaining how the re-deployment unit worked. The 
prefect didn’t like  it, and nor did the former Human Resources Manager. 
Nevertheless I felt a change among the advisors afterwards…”
! Leaders use their new position in the trade-union to  facilitate the identity 
reconstruction of their ex-colleagues by drawing on the support of outside 
specialists: “My contacts in the trade-union umbrella organisation helped me find 
experts in restructuring. I strengthened links with some of them that I had already 
established during the redundancy procedure. They gave  me food for thought 
and explained the options. I use all that when I return each week to the re-
employment centre. That gives the  workers some guiding principles. They have a 
better idea of where they can go.” In doing this, leaders remain leaders of a body 
of strikers but not in the same way as the first profile. While in the first case, 
leaders worked  to retain their identity by anchoring their colleagues in the  past 
and turning the time of the strike into a golden moment to be cherished, here 
leaders work to disband the  collective in favour of the emergence of individual 
professional construction that mirrors their own case. “You have to look forward. 
The future is no longer at X. X has closed. It has to be mourned. My role is to 
help workers to rebuild themselves and not to shut them up in the past.”  
! With the second tactic, leaders promote the effectiveness of re-
employment tools. They organise meetings to make workers aware of the quality 
of the service. They tell them about various possibilities for training or for 
pursuing personal projects. On this last point, they are on the look-out to  ensure 
that fragile workers do not present unrealistic projects: “I know that the centre  has 
pressure on it to achieve results and that the Human Resources Manager wants 
to attain high rates of re-employment. Consultants may be tempted to accept 
career-change files a bit too easily. So I follow all the  dossiers that progress too 
quickly. I call the colleague  and we discuss their project. I make sure its solid. I 
advise them to speak to such and such a person who I know is well informed 
about their subject. If I see that it’s not really serious in the follow-up  meeting I 
intervene. Or, I call the head of the centre to  find a solution with him”. This leader 
went to visit these same  people  in their homes, and telephoned them regularly. 
Leaders use their knowledge both for finding colleagues new work and for 
making sure that their malaise does not turn into  a depression, which would lead 
to long-term exclusion from the job market. 

Extending the meaning of these tasks
! Leaders have to  contend with a high degree of emotional tension. In effect, 
their commitment to the ex-workers causes them to be exposed to  strong cases 
of social distress, while their personal professional situation is rather good: “I 
have to say, the strike did give me recognition in my trade-union. You could say 
that I got a promotion, even though I don’t see it like that.” Here the leader is 
forced to acknowledge the  difference between his situation and that of the other 
workers who are job  seeking while he has attained a sure and stable future 

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without having  to profoundly change his professional identity. A feeling of betrayal 
takes hold, which will motivate two adjustment tactics. 
! With the  first, leaders devote themselves to the workers who are in 
distress. A tactic of emotional and behavioural over-investment develops. The 
leader fights his culpability by re-presenting his identity reconstruction in a light 
favourable to his ex-colleagues: “I’m struggling with the difficulties my colleagues 
are facing  and my personal situation. I feel embarrassed. So I’m doing everything 
I can for them, especially for the weakest ones.” This identity work is 
characterised by a quasi-devotion to the most difficult cases. The leader goes to 
see  them every day, telephones them, and listens to them. Such action is not 
always easy because the ex-workers are also conscious of the disparity between 
them and the leader. The leader is not seen as a saviour. His/her devotion is 
sometimes not understood. The  worker who is having difficulties can even be 
harsh: “I’ve faced difficult situations where  workers were wounded. Some can be 
aggressive. I had one worker who told me that I’d taken advantage of the closure 
to dig myself in. Others, who I helped for months, no longer want to  know me. 
They cross the street when they see me in town.” As this example shows, this 
tactic does not reduce the blame placed on the leader since his personal 
investment goes unrecognised. 
! With the second tactic, leaders draw attention to their activity within the 
trade-union organisation in order to help  other leaders to manage similar 
situations. They develop  a tactic of relief by proxy. They become  their union’s 
point of reference for local stakeholders on the  subject of the reorganisation. 
They devote  their time  to internal committees and working groups. They complete 
training, whether as a preventive measure or a remedial measure (during 
disputes). They insist on the importance of skill transfer and eagerly give talks 
and encourage local debate: “You have to  share your experience. That’s vital. 
Other representatives have to be able to benefit from our experience on order to 
be  more  effective in managing their dispute. It’s like a long chain of mutual aid  in 
which I’m just a link.”  The identity of the leader is not seen as a failure but rather 
as an opportunity for learning which it is urgent to  share so that it may benefit 
other activists: “My experience can help  others, I’m sure of it. That’s why I tell my 
story as often as I can.” Here some interaction appears between the two 
identities. The identity of “leader of a striking workforce” gives the individuals 
legitimacy in their new identity of national or regional trade-union leaders, and 
this enables them to help  former colleagues more effectively through their raised 
profile and their extended personal networks.  

Unbalanced resources
! Three  resources underpin this identity balance. Unlike with the first profile, 
ex-leaders have considerable activist capital (Matonti & Poupeau, 2004). Their 
work in the trade union goes beyond the local level: “Very early on in my career 
as an activist I had contacts outside the company. I started out in the local union 
where I looked after the legal files. Next, on the federal level, I completed training 
and then I became a trainer. I was also entrusted  assignments on economic 
topics such as the direction in which our industry was headed.”  Recognition in the 
local union or umbrella group, contact with trade union managers and legal 
training all point to the beginning of a promising trade-union career. Leaders have 
supporters in the organisation who see potential for the union in them. Managing 
the dispute advances the leaders’ trade-union career. It highlights that they are 
responsible organisers. 
! This secure path enables the leader to bypass the economic difficulties to 
which he or she would otherwise be  susceptible. Although better trained than 
leaders who have the first profile (8 of these  13 leaders were technicians, 
compared to only 6 out of 21 in the  first profile), the leader’s relative youth (the 
average  age was 45 years and the average length of service was 17 years) 

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means that he or she is not immune from some job  seeking, which must be 
conducted  against the backdrop  of a bad reputation: “It’s true that if I didn’t have 
this job  in the union, I think I’d have to move away. The employers in the  area 
know me well now and I’m sure I’m on their blacklist.” Several tried out job 
seeking and found themselves discriminated against: “At the job  centre, the 
advisor told me that I was a particular kind of job  seeker. He compared my 
situation to having a criminal record. All the same, I wanted to see for myself, so I 
went to  a recruitment session. I passed the  first two interviews no problem. The 
third was with the Human Resources Manager. He  told me  that he knew who I 
was and that there would  be no place for me in his company – not now and not 
ever.” 
! Lastly, on a personal level, leaders face a grave  threat to their private  lives. 
The people around them do  not see the intensity of their commitment as 
legitimate like in the first case. They are often the first in their families to follow 
such a career path. This lack of precedent has important consequences. The 
more the immediate family understood the commitment during the dispute, the 
less it appears unjustified to them afterwards. Support gives way to 
incomprehension, or even to anger which led  in four cases (2 out of 4 women and 
2 out of 9 men) to  relationship  breakdown or to rejection by the community: “My 
husband couldn’t handle my role in the dispute  in the long term. I can’t say it was 
the only reason for our break-up, but it didn’t help  our relationship.” In all cases, 
especially those involving women (3 cases out of 4), ex-leaders were expected to 
return to some kind of normality regarding their share of the household tasks. 
Their inability to stop  their worklife affecting their personal life caused their 
partners to ask them to make  a choice between activism and family 
commitments: “My husband reminded me several times that trade-unionism isn’t 
compatible with being in a couple. At some point, I had to choose.”
! In contrast to the previous profile, the “in-between”  identity implies identity 
tensions. Leaders must manage their feelings of guilt about advancing in their 
personal career in the  union while many former colleagues face instability: “When 
you are making progress and you see that others around you are stuck in the 
past and starting to sink, it affects you.”  Despite identity work which coordinates 
action on the  source of the identity threat and reframing the  dual identity, 
especially its new dimension, the  leader still suffers. He or she  is weakened by 
every concrete reminder of the difficulties his or her former colleagues are facing. 

TURNING  THE PAGE: FORGETTING  AND REBUILDING  A CAREER 
ELSEWHERE 

Staying positive about career prospects
! Here, leaders express optimism about their futures, developing two tactics. 
With the first, the leader completes an important re-evaluation of his or her 
capacity to bounce back by re-interpreting his or her career path as voluntary. 
Leaders construct an image of themselves as a warrior. This is an example of an 
emotion-focused strategy. The person describes him- or herself as someone who 
faces challenges. They liken their career path to that of an entrepreneur who 
made judicious choices: “I haven’t had an easy career. I’ve had to overcome 
numerous obstacles. To obtain my mechanics diploma I had  to convince my team 
leader and also the head of the course that I was capable of it.”  The leader is not 
a victim of job  cutbacks but a strategist who has taken advantage of his or her 
opportunities. They have patiently built up  their skill-set and planned a project 
that the money provided by the  redundancy scheme finally gives them the 
chance to  put into action. They do  not see  themselves as a victim of 
stigmatisation: “I don’t think I have the image  of an activist. I led a legitimate 
dispute and employed moderate means. Everyone recognised that. No-one can 
hold it against me. What’s more, I have proven technical skills. There’s a lack of 

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technicians who can do arc welding in the region. I’m not worried about finding 
my next job.” 
! With the second, the leader describes his or her new professional identity 
with enthusiasm. This identity is seen as rebound, a long-buried  desire which at 
last found an opportunity: “I’ve always dreamed of being  a beekeeper. Now I 
have the  chance to make this dream a reality. At the same time, I’ll carry on the 
trade-union movement by joining the French farmers’ association (Confédération 
paysanne).” This new professional identity comes at a good time. It allows the 
reader to regain their enthusiasm at a time when it was waning: “I’ve gone as far 
as I can in my job. I’m going to try the selection procedure for a supervisor role. 
That’s a real profession that corresponds to what I want to do: defend the 
workers. I’m staying loyal to my ideas and moving forward professionally.”

Being effective in the professional reconstruction process
! Two tactics are developed here. With the first, ex-leaders acts on the 
source of their unstable identity.  They take charge of their professional transition 
by firstly gathering information. Unlike in the previous profile, which relies on a 
group  dynamic at this level, this is a uniquely personal affair. The leader, who is 
well placed to understand the re-employment procedure, manages things as well 
as possible: “Very early on in the redundancies, I thought about my professional 
future. I got information from the national association for professional training. I 
met people  from the career centre. I put together an application for some trainer 
training financed by the redundancy scheme.” The professional projects are 
daring. Sometimes leaders plan to start up  a business. Some also plan to  take a 
professional role in Human Resources: “After evaluating my skills, I quickly 
arrived at the conclusion that Human Resources was the  only place I could go. 
It’s true that it seemed strange at first, both for me and for my colleagues, but it 
was the  solution that fit me best and so I went with it”. Two of them managed to 
seize this professional opportunity in their own region. The ex-leader may also 
become a civil servant either in an activity associated with the company (lifelong 
professional development) or, in contrast, in a field which is completely new to 
him or her (social development). The leader devises action plans to meet his or 
her objectives. He or she  may also  think about moving: “If I have to move up 
North, I’ll do it. That’s not a problem. You have to be mobile these days”.
With the second tactic, leaders seek to take advantage of their experience as a 
trade-union leader both before and  during the strike. Their role  as leader of an 
industrial strike allows them to make professional discoveries that can help  them 
in their identity transition.  They concentrate on these new leadership  abilities. 
They extend their legal and economic knowledge  and may access new training: 
“Leading a group  on strike helped me learn a lot, especially about myself. I’ve 
grown in confidence. I’ve learned how to talk to people in authority, whereas 
before I’d have stayed in the background. Now I know how to cope. Later, I 
developed  my ability to analyse both personal and group  situations. I acquired 
the basics of law and economics. I’m no longer the same person.” 

Extended resources
! Four resources shape this identity balance. Firstly, the leader relies on 
moderate trade-union engagement. The trade-union identity is not as absorbing 
as in the first case: “I don’t deny my commitment to the union. I have  values and I 
fight injustice but I never saw myself being a trade-unionist forever. It was a 
phase in my life. I measure myself based on other things such as my work and 
my private life.” Ex-leaders reject what they call an “over-commitment to 
activism”, where professional life  and public life become subordinate to 
participation in the union. These leaders are not identified as potentials for the 
union hierarchy like in the second configuration we describe. On the contrary, 
they maintain a three-fold  identity (trade-union, professional and familial). Their 

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initial commitment was the result of particular circumstances such as sympathy 
for a representative or a request by other workers or even the  management. 
More infrequently, it may have been carried out during the  dispute or just before.  
This was the case of one female leader who  was pressurised into accepting the 
role by her colleagues, who were disappointed with their representatives. 
! Secondly, the  leader’s activism has shaky foundations, with no support 
coming from the private sphere: “I can’t claim to be from an activist background. 
I’m the first. My wife wasn’t overjoyed when she learned of my decision. She 
didn’t stop  me, but she didn’t encourage me either!”  The person is often the only 
one in his or her circle to have joined a union, which facilitates trade-union 
withdrawal. The family’s removal from the trade-union world  means that they 
support the leader in his or her professional reorientation, unlike in the first case: 
“When I decided to distance myself from the union, neither my husband nor my 
children opposed my choice. In fact, I felt they were in favour of it. That helped, 
for sure.”  Here  we see that the third profile differs from the second by the 
presence  of a family unit that tolerates the leader’s trade-union commitment 
rather than understands it.   
! Thirdly, the leader’s identity reconstruction is facilitated by the  fact that he 
or she feels disillusioned with certain trade-union practices. Ex-leaders explained 
that they experienced trade-union hypocrisy in the handling of the  dispute. Two 
aspects were regularly cited: the absence or inefficiency of the central structure, 
and the presence  of corruption or attempts to bribe trade-union representatives. 
One representative revealed: “During the final redundancy scheme negotiations I 
saw that the management had bribed one representative. I was sure  that his 
union knew about it but did nothing. It’s sickening to see what he got compared to 
the others, when he was saying all along that everyone should receive the same 
amount!” Such practices lead to injustices and feelings of betrayal which are hard 
to bear. Lastly, several ex-leaders were refused permanent status by their union 
at times when they felt they deserved it. This professional disappointment was 
keenly felt after they had invested so much and jeopardized their employability: 
“Even if you don’t do it for that, you expect support from your union during tough 
times. For me, that didn’t happen. I could have kicked the bucket and they 
wouldn’t have done anything!”
! This rejection is even more  keenly felt if ex-leaders are under strong 
economic pressure. Their image as a strike leader harms their career transition, 
and they must act as quickly as possible to reposition themselves. The 8 manual 
workers and 8 clerical, technical and  supervisory staff that made up  this group 
were all in difficult financial situations that restricted their ability to earn a living. 
Four of the five women in this group  were raising their children alone. Among  the 
11 men, 2 had a wife who did  not work or worked part-time. Although their shorter 
length of service (under 15 years) and  their younger age (under 40 years on 
average) should enable them to  reposition themselves more easily on the  job 
market, it still proves difficult.  
! When faced with this lack of empathy, ex-leaders feel disillusioned and 
seek to extricate themselves. They feel they have no  debt towards the collective: 
“I can look at myself in the  mirror. I know what I’ve done. You can always say that 
you could have got more, but that’s easy. I gave to the group. Now that the 
dispute is over, it’s time to think a bit about myself.” The commitment to the 
collective  during the dispute exempts the leader from all judgement concerning 
his or her future career. 
! Lastly, in-depth analysis of leader’s career path revealed a strong  desire to 
succeed which had been frustrated by financial reasons (a poor family) or 
personal reasons (becoming a mother at an early age). Composed of members 
aged between 35 and 53, with 8 of them technicians, this group  was younger and 
better educated than the  first group  but not the second. By holding the position of 
leader and realising  that they had achieved results, these individuals were 

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suddenly made aware of their potential: “The dispute made me see that I can 
cope in situations I couldn’t have before. It showed me that I’m capable of things I 
thought I couldn’t do.”   Leaders admitted that they thought they had  previously 
been undervalued. A desire to catch up was born. 
! This identity transition proves successful in the majority of cases. The 
leader turns the page and distances himself from his past identity to embrace a 
new one which he prizes. He or she is proud of this transformation and 
experiences no regret with regard to the  strikers that he  or she  led: “I did my bit. I 
made a commitment for the others. I took personal and  professional risks. As to 
those who  tried to make me feel guilty about turning the page, I’m waiting  to see 
what they’ve  done!” However, this audacity can also lead to failure which then 
overtakes the financial threat in the ex-leader’s worries. A difficult economic 
climate, boundless enthusiasm, and ignorance regarding the new activity lead to 
the failure of entrepreneurial adventures in the restaurant industry, bike hire or 
bar management.  The experience of a second failure plunges the impoverished 
ex-leader into depression and sometimes alcohol dependency:  “After the 
closure, I opened  a bar with my severance pay. Because I’m a member of a biker 
club  that I’ve  been in charge of for many years, I thought I had a ready-made 
clientele. The measures against drink-driving came at a bad time for me. I didn’t 
have many punters at all. The  venture didn’t work and I had to sell it. Then I had 
nothing so I sunk into depression and drinking. I came out of the whole  two years 
later, thanks to my wife.” 

DISCUSSION

! At a time of multiple  site closures, this paper aims to analyse how the 
leaders of a labour dispute in response to the closure of a site  reconstruct 
themselves in terms of their identity. How do they manage the two-fold identity 
rupture associated with their job  loss and the ending  of their role as a 
representative of a disbanded body of workers? By combining the contributions of 
critical theories of identity, identity salience, self-categorisation and coping, we 
advanced two hypotheses:
! When former trade-union leaders are deprived of resources with which to 
structure their identity, the  identity reconstruction work they carry out during their 
professional transition proves difficult. Their sacrifices are so great that this 
identity work goes hand in hand with suffering.
Some  ex-leaders will enact a professional transition within their trade-union 
organisation. 
! Basing our analysis on 50 life stories, we can state  that these hypotheses 
are only partially valid. Our work contributes to furthering  understanding of 
identity work within a context rarely studied which spans leadership, disputes, 
resistance and stigmatisation. Aside from the  diverse identity adjustments that it 
brings to light, this study confirms elements previously identified by the literature 
on both transitions and identity threats while it questions others, making some 
original points which offer promising avenues for future research. 
! This research showcases three identity balances (identity tension, in-
between and turning the page), linking resources to identity constructs which are 
as distinct in their aims as in their behavioural and/or cognitive processes. 
Contrary to what several research works propose (Eisenberg & Lazarsfeld, 1938; 
Martin, 1987; Willott & Griffin, 2004; Paris & Vickers, 2010), this research 
maintains that the individual refuses to renounce his or her identity independence 
in a particularly threatening situation (Devine et al., 2003). This identity work is 
conscious and intense (Collinson, 2003). Far from being passive, the ex-leader 
stages an identity combat to establish his or her new professional identity, even if 

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the latter partially or even completely resembles the former, such as in the in-
between and identity tension phases.  The identity strategies adopted are varied 
and sometimes contradictory. On this point, our research questions Petriglieri’s 
(2011) model, which underscores the fact that an individual who feels threatened 
will tend to shun his or her old  identity and  invest in one that is more comforting. 
Nevertheless, rather than presenting a clear picture, our article shows that 
identity strategies are intermeshed by detailing the tactics employed. In so doing, 
we show that ex-leaders combine contradictory tactics. 
! This analysis constitutes one  of the first contributions pertaining  to the 
strategies developed, in particular in relation to Petriglieri’s (2011) model and the 
literature on professional transitions. In both the in-between balance and the 
turning the page option, the ex-leader combines problem-focused and emotion-
focused management strategies (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Gowan et al., 1999). 
Here, in the same  move, the ex-leader manages the transition by placing this 
strategic contradiction at the heart of his identity work. This joint development of 
protection strategies for the former identity and construction strategies for the 
future identity calls into question the sequences proposed  by Petriglieri (2011). 
Although Petriglieri claims that all identity reconstruction strategies such as the 
positive distinction strategy make  the identity threat disappear, while discrediting 
and dissimulation strategies cause it to remain, our research only partially 
confirms this theory.  
! In the turning the page option, which is the only one that can really be 
likened to a professional transition as described  by the literature, our results 
confirm the work of Petriglieri (2011). The identity restructuring which takes place 
in a behavioural and cognitive  context effectively engenders a diminished 
perception of the threat. Here, works on coping are  also relevant. As Leana and 
Feldman (1994) observe, professional repositioning only operates successfully – 
i.e. a new job  is only found – if the  person in transition is capable of managing the 
stress of the situation.  Strategies which are focused  on the problem must later 
become emotion-focused. 
! On the other hand, the tension option shows that strategies of discrediting 
the source of the tension and the denial strategies set out in the coping  strategy 
framework can prove effective. The ex-leader, who still identifies as a leader, 
successfully eliminates the  identity threat, even if there is no professional 
rebound. On this level, the symptom-management strategy (Jahoda, 1972; 
Gowan et al., 1999) is shown to be valid. Conversely, there is validation of the 
theories of self-categorisation (Turner et al., 1987, 1994) and identity salience 
(Stryker, 1980).
! Our work shows that with the in-between identity balance, the reaction to 
the identity threat is ternary rather than binary. This third way constitutes a painful 
path along the course of which a new identity is constructed and the identity 
threat is eliminated. However, for Petriglieri (2011), as for analysis in terms of 
coping (Gowan et al., 1999), an individual cannot experience such a situation. 
This result questions the effectiveness of coping strategies focusing on the 
source of the tension, as well as those  oriented towards reconstruction. In 
addition, it calls for a reconceptualization of adjustment in response to identity 
threat. In contrast to Petriglieri (2011), it shows that one can build oneself a new 
identity while conserving the old  one and continuing  to suffer. This result leads us 
to question the effectiveness of coping strategies (Bandura, 1988) and their goals 
in the context of aging  and unemployed workers (Brewington & Nassar-McMillan, 
2000; Riach & Loretto, 2009). 
! By taking into  account the contextual factors identified by Petriglieri (2011) 
and the literature on professional transitions, we may deepen our analysis of this 
effectiveness. The first factor is the perception that the identity threat is intense. 
A consensus emerges (Latack et al., 1995; Petriglieri, 2011) that there is a link 
between this and  identity reconstruction strategies. On this basis, one might think 

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that leaders in a phase of identity tension get stuck in this identity balance out of 
fear that they could never become  anything else, whereas with the other two 
options they would look forward because they would have  a surer future. 
However, this blueprint does not really apply. Leaders who  become  stuck in a 
state of identity tension choose never to imagine any other identity than 
remaining leaders of a collective of ex-strikers. There is still some identity 
reconstruction because the collective is not the same – it has fewer and fewer 
members, it is no longer on strike and it is no longer in the company. 
! This identity reconstruction based on symptom-focused and emotion-
focused strategies is facilitated by a collective that provides social support, 
allowing  the threatened  identity to be defended. This result confirms the work of 
Petriglieri (2011). On the other hand, our analyses on the ability to act on the 
source of the threat and the  centrality of the identity proved less pertinent here.  
Contrary to what Petriglieri (2011) shows, the leaders in identity tension consider 
themselves able to act on the source of the  identity threat both in an individual 
and a collective capacity. Yet they develop  strategies for negating the value  of the 
discourse of this target (here, the management of the company making the job 
cuts). In the same way, the  identity tension balance shows that the  centrality of 
the identity also leads to the development of discreditation strategies. For 
reconstruction strategies, the role of the idea of the outgoing identity and the 
recurrence of the threatened identity are fully validated in the “turning the page” 
and “in-between”  identities, and even in identity tension. On the other hand, the 
perception of the intensity of the threat does not lead  to a reduction in the 
importance of the identity that is left behind. 
! This complexity leads us to advance, as does Kaufman (1982) in his work 
on transition frameworks, that the identity adjustment of former trade-union 
leaders following  a redundancy scheme has a special feature. Our research 
shows that leaving behind an identity constitutes a much more difficult task than 
turning to a new one. In this respect, it confirms the importance of identity 
construction work (Sainsaulieu, 1985). The theoretical frameworks of identity 
salience (Stryker, 1980; Callero, 1985; Thoits, 1983; 2012) and coping (Lazarus 
& Folkman, 1984) provide us with valuable frameworks of analysis. It appears 
that the identity of the leader is central to  the identity portfolio of the ex-leader. Its 
importance is such that its disappearance provokes an identity crisis that is too 
much for the leader to bear (Petriglieri, 2011). 
! The work of Sainsaulieu (1985) allows us to define our aim even more 
precisely since it extends Petriglieri’s (2011) analysis grid by offering an approach 
that integrates the socialisation dynamic of the worker. In the first two types of 
identity work (tension and in-between), the leader finds him/herself in the midst of 
a fusional identity whereas in the  last he relies on an affinity identity. Leaving 
behind the first seems much harder than leaving behind the second. Here we  find 
a validation of the theory of self-categorisation (Turnet et al., 1987; 1994). It 
would  be logical to conclude that the leader in the first case must face a much 
higher number of significant third parties than in the second, which renders his or 
her deconstruction work more difficult (Ashforth et al., 2000; Sluss & Ashforth, 
2007). The enveloping fusional identity is stronger than the affinity one. 
Additionally, being confronted with difficult cases of job  instability reinforces the 
difficulty of the adjustment and increases the identity closure within the group  in 
point. This recalls the critical analysis of Collinson (2003) in terms of resistance. 
! More broadly, this study enriches the understanding of identity threat 
proposed by Petriglieri (2011) by introducing resources. While analysing identity 
work gives a short-term view (Leana & Feldman, 1994; Gowan et al., 1999), 
taking resources into account resituates identity construction in a long-term 
context, that of the ex-leader’s life. In this respect, this study answers Petriglieri’s 
(2011) call to integrate time in our understanding of adaptation to identity threat.

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The ex-leaders appear restricted in their identity reconstruction by both their past 
identity work and the  resources they can use  to construct meaning. It appears 
that searching for a balance between the professional, private and trade-union 
spheres facilitates a professional rebound, while focusing exclusively on the latter 
leads to an inability to say goodbye to the  old identity. Despite this, this study 
does not draw the conclusion that leaders who choose the “turning the page” 
option primarily define themselves in terms of activities outside  their work or 
union. They try to find a balance. Seniority in a post also hinders mobility 
(Wagner et al., 1987; Louis, 1980). A high level of education (Turner, 1995) is 
shown to be a point in favour of mobility when faced with identity threat. Although 
the “turning the page” balance comprised a higher proportion of women than the 
other two groups, we are reluctant to conclude  that they have a greater aptitude 
for it than men.  Our study confirms the absence of clarity regarding the  influence 
of gender on the  management of identity threat (Hepworth, 1980; Fallick, 1996; 
Kletzer, 1998). Paradoxically, this research shows that social support from the 
family can impede professional mobility, even though the literature has always 
affirmed  the contrary (DeFrank & Ivancevich, 1986; Tzafir et al.; 2006). This 
difference can be accounted for, in our opinion, by the weight of family traditions 
of collective engagement, which are  not as strong in other studies on professional 
transitions. The  theory of self-categorisation (Turner et al., 1994) explains this 
paradoxical result: the leader cannot leave his identity reference group. The 
stronger the identity threat, the stronger this group’s hold over him is. Conversely, 
identity flexibility at the moment of transition seems related  to  the absence  of 
trade-union identity reinforcements in the familial environment, and to the 
experience of ethically questionable union practices. Feeling betrayed also plays 
a role in identity tension (Mishra & Spreitzer, 1998; Pugh, et al., 2003). On the 
other hand, although being promoted  within a trade union facilitates mobility, it 
proves painful. 
! This affirmation of identity rigidity contrasts with the flexibility shown in 
other contexts such as that of Moroccan female entrepreneurs described  by 
Essers and Benschop  (2007). Leaving aside the cultural differences between the 
Netherlands and France, the difference  in the nature of the  stigmatisation faced 
by these two groups could explain this difference. While the female entrepreneurs 
must not renounce their identity as women, which they instead amend or keep 
alive in other domains, the ex-leaders are confronted by an irretrievable loss of 
an already long-standing identity (Louis, 1980; Wagner, et al., 1987). 
Furthermore, it seems clear that while female entrepreneurs can base their 
identity construction strategy on social recognition gained from their activity, 
trade-union ex-leaders do not dispose of any positive element on which to build 
an identity strategy. Moreover, it seems likely that identity specialisation in trade-
unionism serves to limit the number of substitutable identities when the trade-
union identity is suddenly destroyed. 

IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

! Going further, this research contributes to questioning the way the career 
paths of trade-unionists engaged in fights by collectives have been represented. 
This study does not point to any automatic trajectory, but rather to  multiple 
possible paths framed, and not determined, by past investments in private, 
professional and trade-union spheres. This leads us to the managerial issues our 
study raises. 
! Although not commissioned by any institution, this study constitutes a call 
to public authorities, employers and trade unions to rethink their actions with 
regard to the essential figures in peacekeeping activities during the closure of a 
site.  The diverse profiles of these individuals nevertheless encourage caution. 
Some  leaders seem easier to help  than others in the management of their 

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transition. By the same token, different partner institutions can play different roles 
according to  the individual’s needs. It is therefore apt to mention here  the role of 
managerial support in terms of combining State, employer and trade-union 
support. 
! Regarding  the identity tension profile, it is not easy to know which 
measures to put in place given that the person does not want to extricate himself 
from his role of leader. This attachment to a disappearing group  does not help  the 
employer’s or the trade-union’s efforts since the trade-unionist is not looking for a 
job.  Only the State, by facilitating the legal provisions of end-of-career social 
management, can help  these people  to  attain retirement age without suffering 
great economic hardship  (Turner, 1995). This intervention does not only serve 
altruistic purposes. The identity tension profile plays an important societal role 
despite the demise of the company. The ex-leader constitutes a rallying point, a 
point of identification for the former workers. He plays an essential role in 
encouraging their association (Jahoda, 1972). Because of this, the leader helps 
to keep  alive a social link which becomes indispensable to the physical and 
psychological wellbeing of jobseekers or retired workers struggling to cope with 
the manner in which they were forced to stop  work. In several cases, we 
observed  that the former employer provided a place for the association while the 
trade union kept in touch with the  workers. Through this aid, this symbolic 
support, these two actors keep  alive  the  associations that were necessary for the 
health of both the leader and the collective. 
! For the in-between profile, our data shows that trade-unions play a central 
role. However, the current low rates of union membership  in France make this 
orientation more and  more difficult. Progressing in this way is selective. 
Nevertheless, of the three options, it seems to be  the one that enables people 
who have essential experience managing external flexibility to stay in the field of 
employer/employee relations. Could we not plan to make  the employer a bigger 
part of this professional translation? Although in many cases the experience of 
leadership  in a site closure constitutes a major handicap  to professional progress, 
which means re-employment proposals which are difficult for workers to accept, 
in other cases it constitutes an experience that allows skills to be gained which 
can be  useful for the company. Here the company should  rethink its conception of 
trade-union careers either by taking on larger numbers of full-time trade-union 
workers or by showing workers that professional advancement is possible  outside 
the trade  union, even if they have led a dispute during a closure. Here the State 
can play a role in monitoring practices or even co-financing career change 
training in partnership with trade unions and employment organisations.   
! In the end, the bifurcation profile is a radical option, which makes the trade 
union’s role  difficult. On the  other hand, both the employer and the State can play 
an important role. This is already partly the  case thanks to the specific negotiation 
process in place  in cases where  trade-union leaders can keep  their jobs. 
However, one might think, given the difficulties encountered by certain trade-
unionists that progress remains to be made to facilitate these transitions. Could 
we not plan to put in place equal management measures concerning the 
employment expectancy of these  people? More broadly, could we not plan to 
assemble personal transition stories in order to inform people of the risks 
associated with different identity balances within the framework of trade-union 
training, given that it is likely that activists will have to face these  kinds of 
situation? Furthermore, this study encourages both trade unions and employers 
to reflect on the significance  of the activists’ memories. The  lack of monitoring or 
at least of visible willingness to provide support in these circumstances may lead 
to the development of escape behaviour by key actors in the management of 
external flexibility. In this sense, the company’s involvement is seen as a 
manifestation of its social responsibility. 

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LIMITATIONS AND AVENUES FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

! Our study contains several limitations which constitute promising avenues 
for future research.
! The first limitation concerns the  retrospective character of the  date 
collected. In addition, with a few exceptions (13 cases), our work is solely based 
on leaders’ perceptions of their own situations. It would be  worthwhile  to 
triangulate the sources of information. We  judged the case study to be 
appropriate for our aims. Longitudinal approaches that would allow researchers 
to observe the identity work of ex-leaders from within a redeployment unit would 
allow us to control this bias. Given the difficulties posed by this process, it could 
be  useful to put together several groups of people who were made redundant at 
different times. The literature provides no information on this point. 
! Nevertheless, it seems that the first group  could be composed  of recently 
laid-off individuals. A duration of one year seems appropriate, since this is the 
time that redeployment units often take to carry out their work. A second group 
would  gather together people made redundant between 2 and 3 years earlier, like 
our study. Lastly, it would be interesting to analyse the long-term effects of 
redundancy on employability, particularly on trust in the company. A period of 8 to 
10 years seems a good scope. On this methodological basis, the progression of 
our three  profiles could  be analysed. In our opinion, the main question remains 
how the “in-between” identity balance progresses. We believe this situation to be 
rather untenable in the long term. How and in what conditions does it transform 
into  “turning the page”? Is the trade-union the best place  in which to carry out 
such a transformation? Questions could  also be  posed  about identity tension. 
How does the leader react to the irreversible break-up  of the collective of 
strikers? Does he compensate for this change by investing in the creation of a 
new group  composed of the same individuals? This observation of the temporal 
dimension of identity tension underlines that unlike the other two profiles, this one 
seems destined  to fail, as Petriglieri (2011) suggests, i.e. to  be  a form of social 
isolation at odds with the working environment. Nevertheless, the cases observed 
reveal that leaders stay leaders of the group  after the end of the redundancy 
procedure. Numerous former worker associations boast healthy numbers years 
later. Thanks to these different defensive strategies, the leader therefore 
succeeds where the theory predicts failure. He succeeds in keeping alive  a group 
and an identity which no longer have an economic reason for existing. It would be 
interesting  to enhance understanding of this apparently paradoxical dynamic over 
the long term. We  could examine how radical the severance with the trade union 
is in the “turning the page”  balance. After a few years, does the leader have no 
links left with the trade union? If he does, what form do  they take? This analysis 
could enable us to distinguish types of career paths that our research and data 
collection were not able to reveal. 
! Secondly, although our sample of 50 cases constitutes a sound analytical 
basis covering a large diversity of trade-unionist profiles in terms of age, gender, 
experience and sectors, some bias was unavoidable. The  number of women 
interviewed was still low (15 cases). The same applies to the service industry, 
which occupies a marginal position in our sample, although our focus on 
manufacturing can be explained by the large-scale deindustrialisation which took 
place in France over the 1990s and 2000s. Finally, both average length of service 
and average age of the interviewees were particularly high. Conversely, the level 
of basic education was low. In light of the literature on transitions (Brewington  
Nassar-McMillan, 2000), it seems that these characteristics do not favour 
professional re-employment. A bias is evident here. It would therefore be useful to 
undertake new data collection, taking care to include individuals that differ in 
these aspects. Nevertheless, it should be stressed that such an undertaking 
could prove difficult. We  experienced first-hand the extent to which employers, re-

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employment organisations, trade-unions and trade-unionists had misgivings 
about this kind of research project. Furthermore, as Fillieule (2005) notes, trade-
union activism is dying  out and remains dominated by men. Interviewing women 
and younger activists could prove complex (Guillaume, 2007). It seems that a 
fertile avenue for research would be to approach a union interested in developing 
such a project, for example with the aim of putting assistance measures in place. 
! Several other variables seem pertinent. The first is culture. Indeed, our 
analysis is based solely on a sample of French workers. A fruitful comparison 
could be drawn with ex-leaders from the English-speaking world. Furthermore, 
given the number of closures that has taken place in both the industrial and 
commercial sectors and the violence  that has accompanied them, it would be 
interesting  to redo our study in several years to see whether the time period has 
any effect. The second variable is identification with an organisation. This does 
not appear in our analyses except in the profile of identity tension where the 
leader attests to having put this affiliation in perspective. Nevertheless, given the 
length of service it seems reasonable to assume that this variable may play a role 
in their identity work. Integrating it could therefore enhance our analysis. 
! Furthermore, it could be interesting to improve our understanding of the 
links between the strategies developed and the resources mobilised. Dubar 
(2011) stresses that identity is constructed through a twofold relational and 
biographical transaction. It would be useful to develop  this analytical framework 
by studying the second aspect in more detail. We began to sketch an argument in 
terms of life stages, emphasising the  role of social revenge, in the  “turning  the 
page” orientation only. The effects of learning could also be examined. Our 
analysis of the career path of Monsieur Lepaon shows that he had  to face several 
redundancies due to downsizing operations. From this example, could we not 
conclude that the leader acquires experience in such situations which increases 
his chances of a professional rebound within the trade-union structure? 
Conversely, it would be apt to look at the effect that repeated redundancies exert 
on a leader’s employability outside  the union. This could lead to incorporating the 
media coverage of the dispute as an aggravating or facilitating factor in the 
leader’s ability to enact a professional transition. 
! On this last point, our study only partially integrates the work of re-
employment professionals (Ramonet, 2010), while the literature  unanimously 
recognises the importance  of managing the split in the most professional and 
peaceful way possible. It could be interesting to analyse the  contribution of these 
professionals according to their status. Commonly, the redeployment unit has a 
significant number of precarious workers on its staff. One could analyse how 
leaders are perceived differently depending on the employment status of the 
professional and his or her knowledge of the profession concerned. 
! Lastly, this qualitative  study could provide a basis for a quantitative study. 
Gowan et al. (1999) stress the importance of developing tools that are 
appropriate for different contexts.  It could be possible to gain first-hand access to 
the subject by asking  leaders to keep  a journal detailing the strategies they 
employ in their identity adjustment over the course of their professional transition. 

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François Grima is full professor in HRM and Management at University of Paris 
Est Créteil (UPEC). Member of the IRG, his research work focuses on industrial 
relations, managing role conflict and career transition in difficult contexts. 

Rachel Beaujolin is a Professor in Management and HRM  at NEOMA Business 
School. Her researches concern the restructurings, the employment 
relationships, the  industrial relations and the professional trajectories. She favors 
as far as possible action research with companies, public institutions and labor 
unions. 

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