Labor Union Renewal in Argentina. Democratic Revitalization from the Base

JUAN SEBASTIÁN MONTES CATÓ, PATRICIA VENTRICI

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES

Sage

Lugar: California; Año: 2011 vol. 38 p. 38 - 51

0094-582X

Despite the persecution of labor leaders and activists during the dictatorship of the 1970s and 1980s and the co-optation of the union leadership in the 1990s, in the past few years Argentine labor unions have regained some of the leadership role they lost when they became strategic allies of the government, moderating their wage demands and supporting the government in disputes with other strong social actors. The new landscape created by Néstor Kirchner’s taking office in 2003 provided a favorable context for a revitalization of unions grounded in principles of union democracy. The experience of the subway workers of Buenos Aires, which is paradigmatic for the depth of the changes in internal practices, their persistence over time, and the strong connection between the form of organization and the results achieved, contributes to an understanding of this revitalization. The involvement of members in formulating and implementing policies produces a program more representative of their demands and allows them to acquire experience, skills, knowledge, self-confidence, and a feeling of solidarity that make their organizations stronger for the struggle with capital. Thus union democracy is not an obstacle to but a prerequisite for increasing union power. In the 2001 crisis in Argentina, economic, social, and political dimensions intersected. The crisis involved the collapse of the development formula based on financial accumulation, the exhaustion of a social model of exclusion based on a regressive distribution of income, and the delegitimation of political authority. Around 2003 the country managed to address these conditions and move toward an economic model that required, among other things, an expansion of the labor market. This situation differed considerably from the one that prevailed during the 1990s, in which an enormous number of workers were driven out of the labor market and saw their share of income decline. The neoliberal program sought to lower labor costs and reduce the political influence of workers and the organizations that represented them. The persecution of labor leaders and activists during the dictatorship of the 1970s and 1980s, compounded by the co-optation of the union leadership during the 1990s, significantly weakened labor as a social actor. Despite the terrible impact of these processes on union practices and strategies, in the past few years labor unions have regained some of the leadership role they lost when they became strategic allies of the government, moderating their wage demands and supporting the government in disputes with other strong social actors (among them the agro-export sector, which led an impressive lockout during the early months of 2008). The new landscape created by Néstor Kirchner’s taking office provided a favorable context for a revitalization of unions grounded in principles of union democracy. Although this was not a homogeneous movement, it was an encouraging development. What was involved was the deepening of the representative role of union delegates, and our hypothesis is that this is the key to the reclaiming of grassroots union experiences in Argentina. The purpose of this article is to understand the shape that this revitalization has assumed, emphasizing the strict legal limits and the possibilities opened up by the political action of the workers. To do this, we will examine the experience of the subway workers of Buenos Aires as a case that is paradigmatic for the depth of the changes in internal practices, their persistence over time, and the strong connection between the form of organization and the results achieved. This analysis allows us to understand the key elements of this renewal and the difficulties that workers confront as they seek to modernize union structures. The article is organized in three sections. The first is an analysis of the factors that affect union power, highlighting the elements that are usually cited as evidence of the revitalization of unions as social actors. In the second we consider revitalization in terms of internal union dynamics, using the concept of union democracy as an analytical tool for assessing breaks and continuities in the relationship between the base and the leadership and in the channels and types of participation. The third section focuses on the case study just mentioned, examining the processes of renewal, the difficulties encountered, and the principal contributions of this case to the issues under consideration. Finally, reflection on this case is linked to the central hypothesis, emphasizing the potential that the deepening of democracy offers for an enduring renewal of unions as social actors.