In this article we investigate a case of successful union organizing in one automotive plant in
Romania. We argue that in order to be able to explain why the union succeeds in defending
workers’ rights we need to consider both the structural and the agency dimensions that
condition labor’s capacity to effectively organize. We find that unions still organize at the plant
level and do so effectively when they adopt an adversarial stance towards management. Our
analysis of the case of the Dacia plant in Romania shows that the union there has made use of
a diverse repertoire of protest activities in order to push for its demands. While striking proved
to be a winning strategy for the union in the recent years, we also find that it is a strategy that
is used less and less because of the shifting economic and political environment in which the
plant is embedded.
