...“What we are seeing less of is ‘classic’ strikes, linked to an industrial model that now carries less weight in the world economy,” notes Luz Rodríquez, a labour law professor at the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Spain. According to the World Bank, industry’s contribution to global GDP fell by 4 per cent between 1995 and 2016: countries such as Denmark, Australia and France are amongst the where it has fallen the most, while in China, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Thailand, for example, it still makes an above average contribution.

To make disputes more visible to the public “there has been a rise in new forms of conducting disputes, alternative forms better suited to the new production models, such as crashing the server for a computer app,” says Rodríguez...

Precariousness and a reduction in labour disputes go hand-in-hand. “When the link between a worker and the labour market is atypical and vulnerable, their situation in face of a dispute is also vulnerable. And so they are more reluctant to support one,” explains Rodríguez. There is also fear of reprisals...