Labour regulation patterns and protection deficits: Latin American cases

ADRIANA GOLDSCHVARTZ (MARSHALL)

Ginebra

Congreso; 2nd Conference of the Regulating for Decent Work network "Regulating for a Fair Recovery"; 2011

International Labour Organization

To illustrate the diversity of regulatory trends that coexist in the Latin American region, and to contribute to develop the analytical framework for comparative research on labour regulations and their effects, this article discusses regulatory paths followed in four countries  (Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay) during the growth period that started around 2003 and continued still by 2011, only briefly interrupted by the international crisis triggered in 2008. These four countries were chosen taking into consideration criteria that are relevant to the discussion on labour regulations and their impacts. Discussion centers in two areas that have a direct impact on employed workers: employment protection and wage setting. First, some of the central aspects of labour reforms in the 1990s and earlier periods are briefly described. Next, the economic background is examined, looking into economic and employment trends from the end of the 1998-2002 recession to 2010. After this, the evolution of labour regulation patterns in this period is analysed, focusing in wage setting and employment protection legislation, and at the same time some protection deficiencies are highlighted. Fourth, and although this is not exclusively linked to the two regulatory areas examined in this article, the incidence of non protected employment is discussed. To end, attention is drawn to certain topics that are important for future, in particular comparative, research. It is concluded that the experience of the four countries examined suggest a trend towards more regulatory divergence in Latin America, in contrast to the convergence noted in relation to the 1990s. In Argentina from 2003 and in Uruguay from 2005 the predominant orientation of labour regulation was to strengthen labour rights, reversing policies implemented in the 1990s, and with an emphasis on the further development of collective bargaining. In Chile, steady but modest and piece meal progress was made in reforming in the same direction the regulatory regime inherited from the military regime that ended some 20 years ago. By contrast, new regulations in Peru tended to reinforce the reforms that in the 1990s had been addressed at reducing worker rights, now by enlarging the legal loopholes in which the general protective regime does not apply.  In any case, and in spite of the various legal contractual forms available which, whatever the level of restrictions imposed by the general legal regime, tend to reduce employment costs and/or protections on hiring and firing, in some countries there seems to be a substantial irreducible core of employment that does not comply with existing regulations, and therefore does not provide the stipulated labour or social benefits to workers.