“The bag or your Life!” Super exploitation and nurses’ protests from Córdoba during the Covid19 Pandemic, Córdoba 2020

Abstract

In this article, we focus on the outbreak of belligerent actions that arouse in Córdoba during the most critical moments of the first epidemic wave, based on a broader project that investigates discourses, representations and practices in nursing during the Covid19 pandemic. First, we consider some of the mechanisms by which the provincial authorities managed the health emergency by deepening the processes of super-exploitation among the nursing staff inserted in the anti-covid19 public system in the city of Córdoba. Then, we analyze a protest held on October 20th, 2020, which mobilized nurses of the Rawson Hospital, a well- known medical institution of the local Health Pole.  Then we consider Javier Auyero's contributions (2002a and b) to show that, although the unfavorable working conditions prevailing in the sector are the basis of the conflict, in order to understand how this collective action arose, its internal dynamics and meaning, it is necessary to consider its previous associative networks, the change in the structure of political opportunities and the use of resources. We carried out a quantitative and qualitative research, using semi-directed interviews with nursing professionals, provincial statistics collected from more than two hundred self-completed questionnaires and an analysis of the data gathered in the local daily digital press.