Union activism and resistance in Argentina´s call centers

ABAL MEDINA, PAULA

Berlín

Workshop; The production of peripheries. Precarization processes in states and labor markets; 2015

Freie Universität Berlin

Different forms of union activism have proliferated recently in the Call Center business, particularly in companies which were lured to Argentina in the early 21st century as a result of its exchange rate and consequent low costs -especially labor costs- which were so favorable to doing ?good business.? This article examines the particular features of this business model -which I define as immediate overexploitation- describing each intervening element: the infantilization of workers illegibility of the workplace, working time squeeze and extended control, ?bumper? workers as well as the fragmentation and extinction of work collectives.The features attempt to construct two modes of subjectivation which produce the following worker figures: worker burn-out and worker distance. I identify workers? resistance and their various forms of activism in these particular power schemes. It is through them that we may understand part of their meaning and efficacy. Moreover, in the second stage of analysis, I propose going beyond a reactive approach in order to reflect on the affirmations, creations, and modes of politicization of Call Center workers. In this second instance, I advance on the characterization of three forms of labor and union activism: assembly activism, the ?traditional? left-wing activism and popular- national activism. The research for the article proposed was conducted between 2000 and 2010 in different offshore Call Centers located in the city of Buenos Aires and which employed a significant number of young workers.