Union Strategies to Confront Nonstandard Work under Three Factory Regimes in Argentina (2003-2011)

ELBERT, RODOLFO

Washington

Congreso; Latin American Studies Association. Towards a New Social Contract?; 2013

Latin American Studies Association

Labor revitalization in Argentina occurs in spite of high levels of labor informality, which includes the presence of a stable informal sector and the existence of nonstandard labor practices in formal sector companies. The combination of labor revitalization and working class fragmentation in contemporary Argentina raises the following puzzle in the study of union politics in the formal sector shop floor: How can we explain the rise in organized labor militancy among formal sector workers given the persistence of the division between standard and nonstandard workers in firms of the formal economy? One possible explanation to this anomaly is that through one mechanism or another, this division has declined in economic salience. This view would suggest that the conflict of interest between standard and nonstandard workers that might have weakened unions have become less salient. An alternative explanation is that labor revitalization was possible in firms of the formal economy because new strategies of organized labor have made headway in overcoming the effects of the economic divisions. This paper addresses this puzzle drawing on 14 months of fieldwork studying how unions deal with nonstandard work arrangements in three factories located in the city of Pacheco (Argentina): Kraft Foods (KF), Volkswagen (VW), and Frigorífico Rioplatense (FR) meat packing plant. Unions from all three factories have dealt at some point in the analyzed period with the problem of nonstandard work arrangements. In the case of KF, there were campaigns asking for standard contracts for two groups of subcontracted workers and for temporary workers. In the case of VW, the union has sought a salary raise for subcontracted janitors. Finally, the shop floor union at the Frigorifico has demanded standard contracts for subcontracted and temporary workers as part of its workplace campaigns.