Noncitizenship and Unionism: Migrant Cleaners' Struggles in Athens and the Case of Konstantina Kuneva

This paper explores the intersection of noncitizenship, and labor struggles through the lens of the Panattic Union of Cleaners and Domestic Personnel (PEKOP), a militant union in the Greek cleaning sector during the late 2000s, predominantly composed of immigrant women. Focusing on Konstantina Kuneva, a Bulgarian immigrant and general secretary of PEKOP, the paper highlights the complexities of labor organizing in a sector characterized by workers with diverse formal statuses—Greek nationals, EU migrants, non-EU migrants, and undocumented workers. Kuneva’s personal narrative, shaped by gender-based violence and union-busting tactics, reflects the precarious conditions faced by female migrant workers in this sector. In December 2008, Kuneva was violently attacked with acid by unknown assailants, resulting in life-altering injuries. This attack, which followed a series of threats tied to her union activism, sparked an unprecedented wave of solidarity, positioning PEKOP at the forefront of the labor movement both in Greece and internationally. Despite enduring severe physical and emotional trauma, Kuneva continued her activism, focusing on migration, labor rights, and social justice, and later became a Member of the European Parliament (2014–2019). This paper draws on a biographical interview with Kuneva, alongside media reports, legal documents, and social movement materials, to reconstruct the history of PEKOP as a compelling case study in labor organizing among a diverse and precarious workforce. This paper contributes to the growing body of scholarship that challenges conventional binary conceptions of citizenship and noncitizenship, presenting noncitizenship not merely as the absence of formal status, but as a lived experience of exclusion and a site of potential agency. In this framework, noncitizenship transcends the lack of formal citizenship and entails a dynamic, complex relationship with state structures, particularly in conditions of extreme precarity. A central issue in PEKOP’s labor organizing was the demand for the abolition of subcontracting in public sector cleaning services. Initially, this demand created tensions between Greek, EU migrant, and non-EU migrant workers, as the push for formal contracts in the public sector excluded non-EU migrants. However, PEKOP and the broader solidarity movement ultimately developed an inclusive stance that transcended national and legal distinctions. This shift is examined from the perspective of noncitizen workers, emphasizing the ways in which solidarity overcame legal and national divides. Additionally, the paper explores Kuneva’s subsequent contributions to the protection of the rights of domestic workers and care staff within the European Union, demonstrating how her previous experiences of noncitizenship informed her policymaking work in the European Parliament. By examining the intersections of noncitizenship, gender, and class, this paper contributes to critical noncitizenship studies, calling for a more nuanced understanding of rightslessness, political agency, trade unionism, and solidarity.