Electricity in Latin America, 2004

Abstract

PSI has commissioned this paper in order to help unions develop coordinated strategies to protect their members’ rights and interests. In the energy sector, there are many developments that unions must consider as they plan for the next few years. The most important trend is the complex and deep problems with the privatisation and deregulation model imposed by the international financial institutions. This neo-liberal approach to the serious challenges of supplying safe and reliable energy to citizens, to industry and to agriculture has proven to be weaker even that the public service model that it sought to replace. The report indicates that many of the multinational corporations that rushed in as agents of the IFIs have run away or are looking for the first opportunity to get out. This may mean that unions will have a difficult time negotiating long-term collective agreements with them, that no money will be available for salary increases, or that these MNCs will attempt to cut jobs in order to squeeze last-minute profits. However, it also means that the unions can put pressure on the companies by letting the communities and the politicians know of the corporate plans to leave. We can conclude from this research that unions will find it easier to resist energy privatisation, at least for the short term. However, in the long term, it is safe to assume that the IFIs will return to their neo-liberal, market-based attacks on the public sector. Thus, unions must develop long term solutions to protect public services. Possibly the best way to resist privatisation is to ensure that the public services are of a high quality, and that they meet the needs of the public. This can perhaps be achieved through a variety of tools: labourmanagement cooperation to reform and improve public services; workers and users taking a greater role in decision-making; governments investing in public infrastructure. Such an approach will require new strategies and new alliances. The unions are in a good position to lead, if they are willin