Unions, Markets, and Democracy in Latin America

[Excerpt] In the 1990s scholars of Latin America moved from a concern with democratization to a focus on the implementation of market economic reforms. With this shift, the appreciation of labor unions\u27 value to society was lost. Whereas earlier analyses of democratic transitions recognized organized labor\u27s important role in bringing an end to dictatorships, later studies of market reform viewed labor organizations as either obstacles to be overcome, losers to be compensated, or simply irrelevant. Perhaps more important than scholarship\u27s neglect of labor unions is the neglect that is reflected in policies toward labor in the region. Economic and labor market policies as well as labor law reforms have left workers and labor organizations more vulnerable without creating adequate protections, bolstering labor rights, or democratizing industrial relations systems. I argue that these policies have had significant costs that in turn affect two important contemporary debates: (1) how to strengthen labor rights in the global economy; and (2) how to consolidate and deepen democracy in Latin America

Regional Integration and Transnational Labor Strategies under NAFTA

[Excerpt] This paper argues that while the internationalization of the economy has tended to weaken national labor movements, the internationalization of domestic politics may expand the traditional arenas for strategic action for labor unions. In particular, the North American Free Trade Agreement has been portrayed by some of its many critics as representing the consolidation of a neoconservative or neoliberal project that will not only shape the future economic development of the region, but also constrain its social policies and limit its political options (Grinspun and Cameron 1993: Chapter 1). However, these same critics have also noted that the debate surrounding NAFTA in Mexico, Canada, and the United States has led to a broad range of contacts and cooperative efforts among labor, environmental, women\u27s, religious, and educators\u27 groups in the three countries. This process is not only itself an expression of the search for new strategies in the context of regional integration, it has also altered the traditional ways in which U.S.-Mexican relations have been carried out and shaped the political process within Mexico. While the constraints to transnational labor collaboration remain strong, these new dimensions of the international and political environments nonetheless potentially offer new opportunities to weakened labor movements in all three countries. This paper will begin with a discussion of the contours of this new international political environment—in particular, the internationalization of domestic politics—and how this environment differs from traditional, nationally bounded notions of domestic politics and state action. I then discuss how both the transnationalization of politics and regional economic integration change the arena for strategic action by labor groups, how this new environment affects the labor movement in Mexico, and the kinds of strategies Mexican and U.S. labor unions have begun to pursue in this context. Finally, I consider whether the side agreement on labor standards that was developed as a complement to the NAFTA represents an example of institutionalization of this political internationalization, thus potentially facilitating further transnational collaboration among unions, or whether, alternatively, the side accord buttresses national institutions and state autonomy in ways that could constrain labor\u27s strategic use of the international arena

Is Incorporation of Unauthorized Immigrants Possible? Inclusion and Contingency for Nonstatus Migrants and Legal Immigrants

[Excerpt] What does inclusion for nonstatus migrants look like? How do we recognize and measure inclusion for this population? How might we model inclusion for nonstatus migrants? This essay addresses these questions, drawing primarily on empirical examples from the United States and Spain. Although Spain has become a country of immigration relatively recently, both countries have received large numbers of unauthorized immigrants, especially in the early part of the 2000s. These two countries also illustrate different means of inclusion for unauthorized migrants. During most of the 2000s opportunities for the “regularization” of unauthorized migrants have arguably been greater in Spain than in the United States. Yet in Spain the process has also been highly contingent, with a greater likelihood that regularized immigrants will fall out of status (Calavita 2005). The model of inclusion I develop here aims to capture such varied circumstances across national contexts

Unauthorized Migration and Border “Control”: Three Regional Views

This is a revised transcript of a talk given at the Latin American and Iberian Institute at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, on February 29, 2008

Bringing Unions Back In: Labour and Left Governments in Latin America

In the 2000s an unprecedented wave of left-party victories in presidential elections swept across Latin America. Although scholars have studied variation among left regimes and how these regimes differ from neoliberal-era predecessors, few have addressed the role of labour unions and labour policy under the Left. We argue that ‘bringing unions back in’ to the analysis of left governments’ performance sharpens distinctions with neoliberal governments and unsettles existing typologies. We review the labour policies of left governments in four countries—Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina—to show how a labour lens enriches our understanding of left governments in the region

Relaciones Industriales en America del Norte: Sindicalismo y Sector Automotriz en los Estados Unidos [Industrial Relations in North America: Unions and the Auto Sector in the United States]

[Excerpt] Este trabajo empieza por describir algunas de las tendencias generates de cambio que se han generado en los mercados de trabajo y en las relaciones industriales a nivel nacional en los Estados Unidos a raiz de los procesos de globalizacion en los ultimos anos, tomando como ejemplo el caso del sector automotriz. Tambien se consideran algunas de las respuestas y estrategias de los sindicatos norteamericanos frente a estos cambios: las de la AFL-CIO a nivel central, y las del sindicato del sector automotriz, el United Automobile Workers, o UAW. Los cambios que se han generado en los ultimos anos se deben a un complejo de factores, entre ellos los que derivan de una mayor competencia global, pero no precisamente del Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC). Es dificil separar los efectos del Tratado de otros factores aun poco estudiados. Aunque el TLC es indudablemente un elemento importante en los procesos que se estan desarrollando\u27en la region, este trabajo se referira al contexto mas amplio de la globalizacion, en el que se encuentran encuadrados los tratados de libre comercio tal como el TLCAN

Les Relations Industrielles Mexicaines et la Democratic Dans le Context de l\u27ALENA [Mexican Industrial Relations and Democracy under NAFTA]

Le Mexique est presentement en train de vivre une importante transition, qu\u27il s\u27agisse de son modele de developpement economique ou de son systeme politique. Sur le plan economique, le Mexique est passe d\u27un modele d\u27industrialisation sous une logique de substitution d\u27importations par des biens domestiques, modele forge dans les annees 30 et 40, a une strategie de developpement axee sur l\u27exportation et basee sur un modele neo-liberal. Sur le plan politique, le regime mexicain a subi de tres fortes pressions pour que son systeme, de type autoritaire, domine depuis plus de 60 ans par le Parti revolutionnaire institutionnel (PRI), fasse montre de plus d\u27ouverture. Les evolutions dans ces deux spheres touchent fondamentalement le systeme mexicain de relations industrielles. Comme la plupart des transitions, celle-ci fourmille de contradictions. Ces elements contradictoires se manifestent probablement avec plus d\u27intensite dans les relations industrielles actuelles que dans n\u27importe quel autre secteur de la societe mexicaine

The Advocate’s Dilemma: Framing Migrant Rights in National Settings

This article identifies and explores the dilemma of migrant advocacy in advanced industrial democracies, focusing specifically on the contemporary United States. On the one hand, universal norms such as human rights, which are theoretically well suited to advancing migrants’ claims, may have little resonance within national settings. On the other hand, the debates around which immigration arguments typically turn, and the terrain on which advocates must fight, derive their values and assumptions from a nation-state framework that is self-limiting. The article analyzes the limits of human rights arguments, discusses the pitfalls of engaging in national policy debates, and details the challenges for advocates of advancing the cause of policy reform and shifting the frame for thinking about migration over the long term

Regional Integration and Transnational Politics: Popular Sector Strategies in the NAFTA Era

[Excerpt] This chapter argues that although economic integration between the United States and Mexico had been taking place for some time, it was the formal recognition of this process as represented by the discussions surrounding the North American Free Trade Agreement that facilitated transnational political action by non-state actors. Whereas the globalization of the economy and the prevalence of neoliberal economic policies may be considered by some to undermine popular sector organization and actions, formal recognition of regional economic integration in North America has produced a ‘transnational political’ arena that has expanded the resources available to non-governmental groups, increased their leverage in domestic political arenas, and broadened their strategic options. This chapter will examine the dimensions of this transnational political arena. What are its characteristics? How is it likely to evolve overtime? How is this arena similar to or different from other ‘internationalized’ phenomena that a number of analysts have begun to observe and describe? How might different kinds of actors take advantage of this new environment? In particular, how does the existence of a transnational political arena affect popular organizations and social movements (including labor movements) whose activities have traditionally taken place within national borders? Will a Mexico more tightly connected to the US market offer increased opportunities for the mobilization of Mexican social movements, or will it strengthen the barriers against popular organization and activism