Union Organizing in the Community during Labor Movement Revitalization in Argentina

ELBERT, RODOLFO

Chicago

Congreso; XXXII International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association; 2014

Latin American Studies Association

Recent Argentine history (2003-2011) shows that the labor movement became increasingly relevant again, due to protests organized by unionized workers employed in firms of the formal economy. This labor revitalization raises the following question: Are there union organizing strategies that relate formal workers to informal workers living in the nearby communities? This paper answers the question studying union strategies in three formal sector factories located in the city of Pacheco (Northern Gran Buenos Aires, Argentina). The factories are next to the neighborhoods of Las Tunas and Enrique Delfino, where the majority of the residents have informal jobs. Evidence from this comparison suggests that in two of the factories there were union strategies to reach informal workers in the community. The existence of grassroots democratic unions in the shop floor appears as a necessary condition for inclusive union strategies. This strategies are also related to an inclusive class identity as expressed in union flyers and workers' discourses. The scale and intensity of those relations varies according to the geographical pattern of workers? housing, which is the result of the capitalist firms? localization strategy.