Dilemmas of Trade Unionism and The Movement of The Unemployed under Neoliberal and Progressive Regimes in Argentina

MANZANO, VIRGINIA

Where are The Unions?. Workers and Social Movements in Latin America, The Middle East and Europe

Zed Books

Lugar: London ; Año: 2017; p. 209 - 230

The unemployedworkers movement - the piqueteros ? has become one of the most significantactors in the popular mobilisations and protests opposing neoliberalism inArgentina at the turn of this century. Thousands of people occupied bridges,roads, squares and governmental buildings, demanding food and work. Workerswere facing industrial restructuring programmes, layoffs, the flexibilisationof labour and the austerity programmes that were prescribed for Latin America bythe Washington Consensus. The piqueteros formed part of  what became known as "the multiple anddiverse" (?lo múltiple y lo diverso?) duringthe days of 19 and 20 December 2001, when the multitude stormed the streets, confronted armed troops andforced the resignation of two national presidents in seven days. This set inmotion a profound crisis in neoliberal governance and paved the way towards theconsolidation of what were globally recognised as progressive governments inLatin America. This chapter considers the complex formation of the unemployedinto a political and social movement and the subsequent inclusion,fragmentation and redefinition of this movement under progressive governmentsin the region. In this chapter I draw from an ethnographic study inthe district of La Matanza, in theWest Zone of Buenos Aires. Between 1940 and 1960, textile, metallurgy andautomotive industries were established in this area, attracting migrant groupsfrom various provinces in Argentina. In 2000, when I visited the area for thefirst time, people evoked images of La Matanza´s past as a working city, andits present of ?National Capital of Pickets (piquetes)?. Two neighbourhoods onoccupied land became centres for the organisation of the unemployed in the CTAand the CCC respectively. In this chapter I focus on the daily life of theseplaces in order to provide an account of the unemployed workers movement, whichevolved as a model of social movement unionism in the case of the CTA and as aform of class struggle in the CCC. These groups coordinated across territoriesand both faced fragmentation in the context of progressive governments.