Is globalization good for workers? Definitions and evidence from Latin America

International Labor and Working-Class History

Volumn 70, Issue , 2006, Pages 11-34

  Reinecke, Gerhard ^a  

^a INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE   (Switzerland)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 34247504258     PISSN: 01475479     EISSN: 14716445     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0147547906000147     Document Type: Article

References (98)

1. Raymond Torres, Towards a Socially Sustainable World Economy: An Analysis of the Social Pillars of Globalization (Ginebra, 2001).
2. Fernando Cardoso and Enzo Faletto, Dependency and Development in Latin America (Berkeley, 1979).
3. Paul Bairoch, "Globalization. Myths and Realities: One Century of External Trade and Foreign Investment" in States against Markets: The Limits of Globalization, ed. Robert Boyer and Daniel Drache (London, 1996).
4. International Labor Organization (ILO), "Country Studies on the Social Impact of Globalization: Final Report" (Geneva, 1999).
5. ILO, "Globalization and Decent Work in the Americas" (Geneva, 2002).
6. For more detail on the concept of employment quality, see Gerry Rodgers and Gerhard Reinecke, "La Calidad Del Empleo: Perspectivas Y Ejemplos De Chile Y Brasil" in Reestriuturación, Integratión Y Mercado Laboral. Crecintiento Y Calidad Del Empleo En Economias Abiertas, ed. ILO (Santiago, 1998);
7. Ricardo Infante, ed., La Calidad Del Empleo. La Experiencia De Los Paínes Latinoantericanos Y De Los Estados Unidos (Santiago, 1999);
8. and Gerhard Reinecke, Inside the Model: Politics, Enterprise Strategies and Employment Quality in Chile (Hamburg, 2000).
9. For an overview largely in line with the Heckscher-Ohlin approach, see Adrian Wood, North-South Trade, Employment and Inequality: Changing Fortunes in a Skill-Driven World (Oxford, 1994);
10. For a critical overview of the empirical evidence, see Donald Robbins, HOS Hits Facts: Facts Win; Evidence on Trade and Wages in the Developing World (Cambridge, MA, 1996).
11. Bernard Hoekman and L. Alan Winters, Trade and Employment: Stylized Facts and Research Findings (Washington, DC, 2005);
12. Torres, Towards a Socially Sustainable World Economy.
13. For example, Folker Fröbel, Jürgen Heinrichs, and Otto Kreye, Umbruch in Der Weltwirtschaft. Die Globale Strategie: Verbilligung Der Arbeitskraft/ Flexibilisierung Der Arbeit/ Neue Technologien (Reinbek, 1986);
14. Bennett Harrison, Lean and Mean: Why Large Corporations Will Continue to Dominate the Global Economy (New York, 1994);
15. Anita Chan, "A "Race to the Bottom". Globalisation and China's Labour Standards" China Perspectives 46 (2003).
16. For example, Dani Rodrik, The New Global Economy and Developing Countries: Making Openness Work (Baltimore, 1999);
17. Dani Rodrik, "Why Is There So Much Economic Insecurity in Latin America" (Cambridge, MA, 1999);
18. Torres, Towards a Socially Sustainable World Economy.
19. 1990 is a good point for comparison because according to most indicators of trade and investment flows, globalization accelerated during the 1990s. However, this does obviously not mean that globalization suddenly started in 1990.
20. José Luis Machinea and Martín Hopenhayn, La Esquiva Equidad En El Desarrollo Latinoamericano. Una Visión Estructural, Una Aproximación Multifacética (Santiago, 2005).
21. Rodrik, The New Global Economy and Developing Countries: Making Openness Work;
22. Rodrik, "Why Is There So Much Economic Insecurity in Latin America";
23. Torres, Towards a Socially Sustainahle World Economy.
24. ILO, Panorama Laboral 2006 (Lima, 2006).
25. Recently, the ILO has defined the concept of the "informal economy" in addition to the informal sector, recognizing that informal employment relationships exist even in the so-called formal sector ILO, Decent Work and the Informal Economy: Report VI. International Labour Conference 90th Session 2002 (Geneva, 2002). However, complete statistical indicators are not yet available for cross-country and over-time comparisons.
26. For a more class-based approach using the same statistical data for operationalization, see Alejandro Portes and Kelly Huffman, "Latin American Class Structures: Their Composition and Change During the Neoliberal Era" Latin American Research Review 38.1 (2003).
27. Emilio Klein and Victor Tokman, "La Estratificación Social Bajo Tensión En La Era De La Globalizadón" Revista de la CEPAL 72 (December 2000). For reasons of data availability, the older series refers to nonagricultural instead of urban employment. For some countries, the cut-off point for microenterprises is ten instead of five workers.
28. Economic Commission of Latina American and the Caribbean (ECLAC), A Decade of Social Development in Latin America, 1990-1999 (Santiago, 2004);
29. ILO, Panorama Laboral 2005 (Avance Primer Semestre);
30. ILO, Panorama Laboral '99 (Lima, 1999).
31. ILO, Panorama Laboral 2005 (Avance Primer Semestre). The last available data for 2005 show some return to formal sector employment, but do not allow for direct comparison with the 1990 data (ILO, Panorama Laboral 2006).
32. ILO, Panorama Laboral 2006.
33. ECLAC, Panorama Social de América Latina 2006 (Santiago, 2006).
34. ILO, Panorama Laboral 2005 (Avance Primer Semestre).
35. ECLAC, A Decade of Social Development in Latin America, 1990-1999.
36. Leonardo Gasparini, Protección Social Y Empleo En América Latina: Estudio Sobre La Base De Encuestas De Hogares (Lima, 2003);
37. Victor Tokman and Daniel Martinez, eds., Flexibilización En El Margen: La Reforma Del Contrato De Trabajo (Lima, 1999).
38. See also ILO, World Labour Report 1997-98. Industrial Relations, Democracy and Social Stability (Geneva, 1997).
39. Marisa Bucheli, Adrián Fernández, Magdalena Furtado, and Juan Manuel Rodriguez, Regulaciones E Instituciones En El Mercado De Trabajo De Uruguay (Montevideo, 2004).
40. ECLAC, A Decade of Social Development in Latin America, 1990-1999.
41. Klein and Tokman, La Estratificación Social Bajo Tension En La Era De La Globalizadón.
42. Gerhard Reinecke and Raymond Torres, Studies on the Social Dimensions of Globalization. Chile (Geneva, 2001 ).
43. Hoekman and Winters, Trade and Employment: Stylized Facts and Research Findings;
44. Robbins, HOS Hits Facts: Facts Win; Evidence on Trade and Wages in the Developing World;
45. Torres, Towards a Socially Sustainable World Economy. An Analysis of the Social Pillars of Globalization.
46. Hoekman and Winters, Trade and Employment: Stylized Facts and Research Findings.
47. Torres, Towards a Socially Sustainable World Economy.
48. The sectoral case studies in this section are based both on a summary of the available literature on these sectors and the author's field research. For a more detailed presentation and methodological aspects see Gerhard Reinecke, Flexibilidad, Innovaciones Y Cadenas Productivas: La Industria Textil Y Del Vestuario En Chile (Santiago, 1997);
49. Reinecke, Inside the Model. Politics, Enterprise Strategies and Employment Quality in Chile;
50. Reinecke, Negative Constriction or Potential Opportunity? Globalization, Enterprise Strategies and Labour in the Chilean Textile and Clothing Industry (forthcoming).
51. National Socioeconomic Characterization Survey (Encuesta Nacional de Characterizacion Socioeconimica [CASEN]).
52. ILO, Panorama Laboral 2005 (Avance Primer Semestre).
53. Rafael Agacino, Cristián Gonzalez, and Jorge Rojas, Capital Transnacional Y Trabajo. El Desarrollo Minera En Chile (Santiago, 1998);
54. Elias Apud, Silvia Lagos, and Fabiola Maureira, Estudio Ergonómico En Plantas Salmoneras De La X Region, Cuaderno De Investigación 17 (Santiago, 2003);
55. Stephanie Barrientos, Anna Bee, Ann Matear, and Isabel Vogel, Women and Agribusiness: Working Miracles in the Chilean Fruit Export Sector (New York, 1999);
56. Prisdlla Délano and David Lehman, "Women Workers in Labour-intensive Factories: The Case of Chile's Fish Industry," European Journal of Development Research 5.2 (1993);
57. Estrella Díaz, Transnacionalización De La Industria Salmonera. Aspectos Socio-Laborales De Un Proceso En Curso (Santiago, 2003);
58. Solange Duhart, Antonio Infante, and Jacqueline Weinstein, Condiciones De Trabajo Y Salud Ocupacional De Los Trabajadores De La Flota Pesquera De Arica E Iquique (Santiago, 1987);
59. Solange Duhart and Jacqueline Weinstein, La Industria Pesquera En La Región Del Bíobío (Santiago, 1991);
60. Patricio Escobar and Diego López, El Sector Farental En Chile: Crecimiento Y Precarización Del Empleo, Colección Estudios Sectorielles 12 (Santiago, 1996);
61. Rachel Schurman, "Uncertain Gains: Labor in Chile's New Export Sectors" Latin American Research Review 36.2 (2001).
62. Rachel Schurman, "Shuckers, Sorters, Headers, and Gutters: Labor in the Fisheries Sector" in Victims of the Chilean Miracle: Workers and Neoliberalism in the Pinochet Era, 1973-2002, ed. Peter Winn (Durham, NC, 2004).
63. Barrientos et al., Women and Agribusiness; Délano and Lehman, "Women Workers in Labour-intensive Factories."
64. Reinecke and Torres, Studies on the Social Dimensions of Globalization: Chile.
65. Magdalena Echeverría, Valeria Solis, and Verónica Uribe-Echeverría, El Otro Trabajo, El Suministro De Peraonas En Lan Empresas (Santiago, 1998);
66. Thomas Miller Klubock, "Class, Community, and Neoliberalism in Chile: Copper Workers and the Labor Movmenet During the Military Dictatorship and the Restoration of Democracy" in Victims of the Chilean Miracle, ed. Winn.
67. Laís Abramo, Cecilia Montero, and Gerhard Reinecke, "Cambio Tecnológico, Encadenamientos Productives Y Calificaciones Del Trabajo En Chile: Un Balance" in Competitividad, Redes Productivas Y Competencias Laborales, ed. Marta Novick and María A. Gallart (Montevideo, 1997);
68. Echeverría, Solis, and Uribe-Echeverría, El Otro Trabajo.
69. For example, textile and clothing enterprises that export their products to the United States are routinely subject to audits on behalf of the client enterprises. Compliance with labor legislation is one of the main topics of these audits, together with the quality of the product and environmental standards (Interview with Mario Garcia, President of the textile and clothing business association Instituto Textil, Santiago, May 2006)
70. Werner Sengenberger and Frank Pyke, "Industrial Districts and Local Economic Regeneration: Research and Policy Issues" in Industrial Districts and Local Economic Regeneration, ed. Werner Sengenberger and Frank Pyke (Geneva, 1992).
71. Ibid.
72. Rafael Agacino, Evolución Económica Reciente De Los Sectores Textil Y Del Vestuario, 1986-1990 (Santiago, 1991);
73. Patricio Frías, Magdalena Echeverría, Gonzalo Herrera, and Christian Larraín, Industria Textil Y Del Vestuario En Chile, 3 Vol. (Santiago, 1987);
74. Peter Winn, '"No Miracle for Us': The Textile Industry in the Pinochet Era, 1973-1998" in Victims of the Chilean Miracle.
75. Teresa Jeanneret, "El Sistema De Protección a La Industria Chilena," in Proceso a La Industrializatión Chilena, ed. Oscar Muñoz (Santiago, 1972), 66.
76. Peter Winn, "El Taylorisme Y La Gran Huelga Yarur De 1962," Propositions 19 (1990)
77. Peter Winn, Weavers of Revolution: The Yarur Workers and Chile's Road to Socialism (Oxford, 1986).
78. Consultores en Ingeniería y Administratión de Empresas (CADE) Estudio De La Industria De Confecciones (Santiago, 1967).
79. Ibid.
80. Author's calculations based on Banco Central de Chile and Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas.
81. According to a survey carried out in 1991 among 325 female workers of the clothing and knitwear industries, 63.4 percent received a piece-rate wage. This share would be even higher if only the seamstresses were considered, excluding supervisors and those workers in charge of cutting machines. See Ximena Díaz and Norah Schlaen, La Salud Ignorada. Trabajadoraa En La Confectión (Santiago, 1994). Among men, the share of piece-rate workers is lower because they rarely work as seamstresses.
82. Guillenno Gandarillas, "Importancia Para Chile De La Production De Acero En Gran Escala" Occidents 8.69 (1951).
83. Sergio Merino and Jacqueline Weinstein, "La Industria Metalmecánica" in La Industriel Chilena: 4 Visiones Sectorielles, ed. Centro de Estudios de Desarrollo (Santiago, 1986).
84. Álvaro Díaz, Chile: Dinámica De Largo Plazo En El Gambia Tecnológico De Una Empresa Metalmecánica (Santiago, 1992);
85. Institute Chilene de Acero, La Industria Metalúrgica Chilena En La Décoda Del 70 (Santiago, 1980);
86. Merino and Weinstein, "La Industria Metalmecánica."
87. Merino and Weinstein, "La Industria Metalmecánica."
88. Ibid.
89. Magdalena Echeverría and Gonzalo Herrera, Innovaciones Y Trabajo En Empresas Manufactureras Chilenas: La Visión Sindical (Lima, 1995);
90. Joel Stillerman, "Disciplined Workers and Avid Consumers: Neoliberal Policy and the Transformation of Work and Identity among Chilean Metalworkers" in Victims of the Chilean Miracle.
91. For an illustration of this point based on the case of a specific enterprise, see Stillerman, "Disciplined Workers and Avid Consumers."
92. ILO, A Fair Globalization: Creating Opportunities for All (Geneva, 2004).
93. ILO, Panorama Laboral 2004 (Lima, 2004).
94. Tabulations based on the CASEN survey 2000; Gasparini, "Protección Social Y Empleo En América Latina"; Tokman and Martmez, eds., Flexibilización En El Margen.
95. Tabulations based on the CASEN survey 2000; Gasparini, "Protección Social Y Empleo En América Latina"; Tokman and Martímez, eds., Flexibilización En El Margen.
96. Estimates based on data from ILO data base on trade union membership, websites of relevant authorities, Ministerio de Justicia y Trabajo (Paraguay); Bucheli et al., "Regulaciones E Instituciones En El Mercado De Trabajo De Uruguay"; Dirección del Trabajo, (Santiago, 2005);
97. Gasparini, "Protección Social Y Empleo En America Latina"; ILO, ed., Chile. Crecimiento, Empleo Y El Desafío De La Justicia Social (Santiago, 1998);
98. Marfa Luz Vega-Ruiz, Libertad De Asociación, Libertad Sindical Y El Reconocimiento Efectivo Del Derecho De Negociatión Colectiva En América Latina (Geneva, 2004).