EXPLORING PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF TRADE UNIONS UNDER CHANGING LABOUR MARKETS IN LATIN AMERICA

ADRIANA GOLDSCHVARTZ (MARSHALL)

Dusseldorf

Congreso; IWPLMS 2019 : ?The search for security under disruptive technologies and deconstructed labour markets?, 40th International Working Party on Labour Market Segmentation; 2019

Universitat Duisburg Essen

Public perceptions of trade unions, such as degree of confidence in unions or of approval of union demands and activities, have been under academic scrutiny only occasionally. Variations in perceptions have been attributed to individual characteristics, unions´ capacity ?to deliver? and to represent the interests of the un- or less protected workers, the behaviour of union leaders (e.g. presence/absence of corruption), the influence of the media, and economic and labour market conditions, among other factors.Studies on public perceptions of trade unions and their determinants are relatively scant in general, and very few, if any, of them focused in Latin American countries. This article aims at contributing to fill this vacuum, with cross-country and longitudinal analyses of public perceptions of trade unions in Latin America, paying special attention, among the factors that shape them, to the possible influence of labour market conditions, particularly the employment incidence of un- and less protected work.The study has two main stages. In the first, that considers a significant number of Latin American countries, I explore the relationship between perceptions of trade unions and several factors; these include, among others, individual characteristics (age and gender, occupation and income, political orientation, confidence in other institutions, union membership), and contextual variables, such as GDP growth rates, labour market and real wage trends, employment incidence of un- or less protected workers, corruption levels, and unionization rates. The second stage focuses exclusively in two countries, Argentina and Chile, whose relevance for comparative purposes lies in three major differences between them: incidence of informality and precarious employment relations, importance of unionization and collective bargaining, and the level of corruption (all of which are much higher in Argentina than in Chile).For the identification of perceptions of trade unions (as well as of other institutions) and their relationship to individuals´ characteristics, the study is based on data from opinion polls: the Latinobarómetro surveys (that are like Gallup´s), carried out in a considerable number of Latin American countries since the mid-1990s (last available: 2017). Other sources provide information for the contextual variables. For the case study centered in Argentina and Chile, information from the Latinobarómetro databases is complemented with data from local surveys, and with more detailed information for the contextual variables, particularly, for labour market structures, access to social protection, the characteristics, demands, activities and role of trade unions, and practices of trade union leaders.Prior to the two sections presenting the empirical analyses above described, the diverse approaches to public perceptions of trade unions, the meanings of ?confidence in unions? (in what role are unions evaluated: interest representation, capacity to deliver, as political actors, etc.), previous findings on the determinants of public perceptions of trade unions, as well as the guiding hypotheses are discussed.