Labor Unions, Partisan Coalitions, and Market Reforms in Latin America

Why labor unions resisted and submitted during the economic crises of the 1990s.

Maria Victoria Murillo (Author)

9780521785556, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 14 May 2001

272 pages, 10 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.4 kg

'This account goes beyond the usual focus on the national labor confederations to examine individual unions in particular economic sectors in each country … this text provides considerable empirical data, especially at individual union level, that may help us understand the context in which the economic restructuring and labor flexibility debates of the 1990s occurred.' Latin American Perspectives

Why do labor unions resist economic restructuring and adjustment policies in some countries and in some economic sectors while they submit in other cases? And why do some labor leaders fashion more creative and effective roles for labor unions? This book addresses these critical questions in an in-depth elegant comparative study of Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela in the 1990s. In each case, the book studies both the role of national confederations as well as individual unions in specific economic sectors in each country. It demonstrates the importance of the presence and nature of alliances between political parties and labor unions as well as the significance of competition between labor unions for the representation of the same set of workers. This work opens new horizons for appreciating the intellectual and practical importance of the variation in the interactions between workers, unions, political parties, and economic policies.

1. Unions' dilemma: how to survive neoliberalism
2. A theory of union-government interaction
3. The populist past and its institutional legacies
4. A tug of war: labor unions and market reforms in Venezuela
5. Divided we rule: labor unions and market reforms in Mexico
6. From pickets to prices: labor unions and market reform in Argentina
7. Multilevel comparison
8. Labor competition and partisan coalitions.

Subject Areas: Industrial relations [KNXB], Political economy [KCP], Politics & government [JP], Sociology & anthropology [JH]