Forging new labor activism in global commodity chains in Latin America

International Labor and Working-Class History

Volumn 72, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 18-41

  Anner, Mark ^a  

^a PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 36448979640     PISSN: 01475479     EISSN: 14716445     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S014754790700052X     Document Type: Article

References (93)

1. Michael J. Piore and Charles F. Sabel, The Second Industrial Divide: Possibilities for Prosperity (New York, 1984).
2. Bennett Harrison, Lean and Mean: The Changing Landscape of Corporate Power in the Age of Flexibility (New York, 1994).
3. Gary Gereffi, Miguel Korzeniewicz, and Roberto Korzeniewicz, "Introduction: Global Commodity Chains," in Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism, ed. Gary Gereffi and Miguel Korzeniewicz (Westport, CT, 1994), 2.
4. Gary Gereffi, "The Organization of Buyer-Driven Global Commodity Chains: How U.S. Retailers Shape Overseas Production Networks," in Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism, ed. Gary Gereffi and Miguel Korzeniewicz (Westport, CT, 1994), 97.
5. Ibid.
6. Ruth Berins Collier and David Collier, Shaping the Political Arena: Critical Junctures, the Labor Movement, and Regime Dynamics in Latin America (Princeton, NJ, 1991).
7. Arturo S. Bronstein, "Societal Change and Industrial Relations in Latin America: Trends and Prospects," International Labour Review 134 (1995), 163-186;
8. Arturo S. Bronstein, "Labour Law Reform in Latin America: Between State Protection and Flexibility," International Labour Review 136 (1997), 6-26;
9. Maria Lorena Cook, "Toward Flexible Industrial Relations? Neo-liberalism, Democracy, and Labor Reform in Latin America," Industrial Relations 37 (July, 1998), 311;
10. Maria Victoria Murillo and Andrew Schrank, "With a Little Help from My Friends: Partisan Politics, Transnational Alliances, and Labor Rights in Latin America," Comparative Political Studies 38:8 (2005), 971-999.
11. Mark Anner, "The Impact of Labor Law Reform in Latin America: When More Protection is not Enough," (paper presented at the 2006 Meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2006).
12. These are defined as networks of, "actors working internationally on an issue, who are bound together by shared values, a common discourse, and dense exchange of information and services," Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics (Ithaca, NY, 1998), 2.
13. Robert C. Lieberman, "Ideas, Institutions, and Political Order: Explaining Political Change," American Political Science Review 96 (2002), 697-712, 697.
14. Charles F. Sabel, Work and Politics: The Division of Labor in Industry (New York, 1982), 189-190.
15. Julio Godio, Historia del Movimiento Obrero Latinoamericano: Socialdemocracia, Socialcristianismo y Marxismo (1930-1980), 3rd ed. (San José, 1985);
16. Francisco Zapata, Autonomía y Subordinación en el Sindicalismo Latinoamericano (Mexico City, 1993).
17. Banco Central de Reserva (BCR), Boletín Económico: La Industria Maquiladora en El Salvador, 2002: http://www.bcr.gob.sv/.
18. Banco Central de Reserva, Indicadores Economicos Anuales, 1995-2002: http://www.bcr.gob.sv/boletin.htm.
19. V. Bulmer-Thomas, The Political Economy of Central America Since 1920 (New York, 1987).
20. BCR, La Industria Maquiladora.
21. Carolina A. Quinteros et al., Dinámica de la Actividad Maquiladora y Derechos Laborales en El Salvador (San Salvador, 1998).
22. See American Park: http://www.americanpark.com.sv/.
23. Joaquin Arriola and José Antonio Candray, Derechos Prohibidos: Negociación Colectiva y Sindicatos en El Salvador (San Salvador, 1994).
24. Ministerio de Trabajo y Previsón Social, Estadisticas del Trabajo (San Salvador, 2001).
25. Mark Anner, "Between Solidarity and Fragmentation: Labor Responses to Globalization in the Americas" (Ph.D. diss., Cornell University, 2004).
26. James Mahoney, The Legacies of Liberalism: Path Dependence and Political Regimes in Central America (Baltimore, 2001).
27. Although he does not study El Salvador, Charles Bergquist persuasively makes this argument in reference to labor unions in export sectors elsewhere in Latin America. Charles W. Bergquist, Labor in Latin America: Comparative Essays on Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, and Colombia (Stanford, CA, 1986).
28. Rafael Menjívar, Formación y Lucha del Proletariado Industrial Salvadoreño, 1st ed. (San. Salvador, 1987).
29. Tilomas P. Anderson, Matanza: El Salvador's Communist Revolt of 1932 (Lincoln, NE, 1971).
30. James Goldston and Holly Burkhalter, Labor Rights in El Salvador: An Americas Watch Report (New York, NY, 1988), 12.
31. Hugo Molina, "Un Siglo de Modelos Económicos Impuestos y la Necesidad de Concertar al Final del Siglo XX," in El Salvador a Fin de Siglo, ed. Rafael Guido Béjar and Stefan. Roggenbuck (San. Salvador, 1995).
32. Previously, in the case of plant-based unions, fifty percent of the workers plus one were needed to form a union.
33. The reforms, however, do allow for voluntary negotiations, although this is not very common.
34. Figures are based on data from the Salvadoran Ministry of Labor. These figures do not include the construction sector.
35. Rolando Arévalo and Joaquin Arriola, "El Caso de El Salvador," in La Situación Sociolaboral en las Zonas Francas y Empresas Maquiladoras del Istmo Centroamericano y República Dominicana, ed. Organización Internacional, de Trabajo (San José, 1996), 141.
36. Ibid.
37. Author's interviews with business representatives and unionists, San Salvador, 2001.
38. Godio, Historia del Movimiento Obrero Latinoamericano.
39. At the 1968 Latin American bishops' conference, the Church called upon the religious community to "defend the rights of the oppressed [and] denounce the unjust action of world power that works against self-determination of weaker nations." Tommie Sue Montgomery, Revolution in El Salvador: Origins and Evolution (Boulder, CO, 1982), 99. For a period of time, the collaborative unionists linked to the Church also adopted more progressive views, but this waned as the Cold War deepened in the region, and the US encouraged these unions to adopt an anticommunist ideology.
40. Ibid., 125. By the late 1970s the Communist Party had joined the armed struggle.
41. Mark Anner, "¿Hacia la Sindicalización de los Sindicatos?" Estudios Centroamericanos 573-574 (1996), 599-614.
42. Joaquín Villalobos, Una Revolución en la Izquierda para una Revolución Democrática (San Salvador, 1992), 47-50.
43. During the war, Cienfuegos's party, the National Resistance (one of the five organizations that made up the FMLN), encouraged the radicalization of the union movement as a means to augment the crisis facing the government.
44. Interview with author, San Salvador, 1996.
45. FEASIES, ByLaws, San Salvador, 1994.
46. Gilberto García, "La Maquila en Datos: Documento de Invesigación, Programa de Derechos Humanos y Libertades Sindicales en El Salvador," unpublished paper, San Salvador, 1996, 21.
47. Ibid.
48. The Committee's original, full name was the National Labor Committee in Support of Democracy and Human Rights in El Salvador.
49. Cited in Kitty Krupat, "From War Zone to Free Trade Zone," in No Sweat: Fashion, Free Trade, and the Rights of Garment Workers, ed. Andrew Ross (New York, 1997), 64.
50. Ibid., 73-74.
51. Cited in Kupat Ibid., 74.
52. Several years after its formation, COSDEMA disbanded, but the NLC continued to work with Salvadoran organizations that made up the core of COSDEMA.
53. Anner, "Between. Solidarity and Fragmentation."
54. Industry Union of Cotton, Synthetics and Related Industries (STIASSYC), "Breve Historia del Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Industria del Algodon, Sinteticos, Similares y Conexos," unpublished report, 1999.
55. Mandarin is the same factory that was later organized by the left-oriented unionists.
56. Juan Hernández, General Secretary, STIASSYC, Interview with author, San Salvador, August 11, 2001.
57. Ibid.
58. El Diario de Hoy, "Sindicalistas Bloquean a Trabajadores," February 10, 1995;
59. Primera Plana, "Más Controversias en torna a Juan J. Huezo," March 24, 1994;
60. La Prensa Gráfica, "De Profesión Sindicalista," October 15, 2000.
61. Valter Sanches, Worker Representative, Factory Commission, Daimler Chrysler, Interview with author, São Bernardo, December 11, 2001.
62. Alexandre Comin, De Volta para o Futuro: Política e Reestruturação Industrial do Complexo Automobilístico nos Anos 90 (São Paulo, 1998).
63. Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos do ABC (SMABC), Globalizaç ão E Setor Automotivo: A Visão dos Trabalhadores (São Bernardo, 1996).
64. The idea for this new model of production came from José Ignacio Lopez, who was a Volkswagen vice-president and Latin-America operations chief at the time. Lopez saw that the biggest cost in auto production entailed auto parts, and modular production was a way to reduce the cost of auto parts. Lopez originally presented his plan to General Motors, which rejected it. He then went to Volkswagen, which allowed him to build his "dream, plant" in Resende, Brazil.
65. Elder Couto, Supervisor of Labor Relations and Human Resources for Volkswagen, Resende, Interview with author, Resende, December 19, 2002.
66. Author's visit to the plant and interviews with management and workers. Camaçari, Bahia, July 2002.
67. Mark Anner, "Industrial Structure, the State, and Ideology: Shaping Labor Transnationalism. in the Brazilian Auto Industry," Social Science History 27 (Winter 2003), 603-634.
68. John Humphrey, Capitalist Control and Workers' Struggle in the Brazilian Auto Industry (Princeton, NJ, 1982), 13.
69. Ibid., 14.
70. Maria Hermínia Tavares de Almeida, "Unions in Times of Reform," in Reforming the State: Business, Unions and Regions in Brazil, ed. Maria D'Avla Gil Kinzo (London, 1997), 27.
71. Humphrey, Capitalist Control, 15.
72. The system had its limits. Recent scholarship has found that, despite "the statist straitjacket" on unions, there were many incidents of labor militancy and class conflict. John D. French, The Brazilian Workers' ABC: Class Conflict and Alliances in Modern São Paulo (Chapel. Hill, NC, 1992).
73. A pelego is the blanket that is used between the saddle and the horse to soften the pressure of the rider. A pelego unionist is someone who softens the blow of the employers as they "ride" on the workers.
74. Maria Lorena Cook, "Labor Reform and Dual Transitions in Brazil and the Southern Cone," Latin American Politics and Society 44 (2001), 1-34.
75. Almeida, "Unions in Times of Reform," 29.
76. Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, International Labour Oorganization, 2005: www.ilo.org/public/ english/standards/relm/ilc.
77. Ibid.
78. Voting rights were restricted through literacy requirements. From 1881 to 1930, between one and three percent of the total population voted in elections. Josep M. Colomer, "Taming the Tiger: Voting Rights and Political Instability in Latin America," Latin American Politics and Society 46 (2004), 29-58, 40.
79. Humphrey, Capitalist Control, 129.
80. John Humphrey notes, "The Säo Bernardo leadership was antipolitical and antileft (particularly anticommunist), but it favored rank-and-file activism, organization in the plants, and giving priority to the defense of the immediate interests of the category." Ibid., 130.
81. As Alfred Stepan explains, "By the mid-1970s the Brazilian Church had become the most theologically progressive and institutionally innovative Catholic Church in the world" Alfred C. Stepan, Democratizing Brazil: Problems of Transition and Consolidation (New York, 1989), xii.
82. CUT Bylaws, Title II, Chapter I, Article 2.
83. Victor Augusto Meyer Nascimento, "Cadeias Organizatórias Operárias Dentro das Multinacionais: Un Fenômeno Internacional Emergente" (PhD. Diss., Universidade Federal da Bahia, 2000), 88.
84. Mario dos Santos Barbosa, Representative of the Factory Commission, Volkswagen, Interview with author, Säo Bernardo, December 13, 2001.
85. João Batista Cavalcente, the coordinator of the Brazilian Volkswagen factory commission and member of the delegation to Germany, explains how common problems created a common sense of struggle: "In Germany, [...] even though their salaries are much different than our [...] they are struggling against automation, unemployment, and crisis just like we are. Their struggle is at a higher level. But if they have more achievements it is because they have been struggling for a longer period of time." Quoted in Jornal da Comissão, Órgão Informativo de Commão de Fábrica dos Trabalhadores da Volks, Divisões Caminhões, SBC, No.1, February 1985.
86. Jornal de Comissão de VW, São Bernardo, November 2001.
87. Volkswagen agreed to provide a new production model to the plant and a job stability clause. The union's concession to the company was to accept the reactivation of the Volkswagen Week, which accounted for 57.62 percent of the company's savings.
88. This was not always the case. Under the leadership of Walter Reuther (1946-1970), the union had developed a strong internationalist orientation. That changed with a change in the leadership and the crisis in the auto industry starting in the 1980s. Nelson. Lichtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit: Walter Reuther and the Fate of American Labor (New York, 1995).
89. Arnaldo José França Mazzei Nogueira, A Modernização Conservadora do Sindicalismo Brasileiro: A Experiência do Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos de São Paulo (São Paulo, 1997).
90. Ramiro de Jesus Pinto, President, Metalworkers' Union of São Paulo (SMSP), Interview with author, São Paulo, March 21, 2002.
91. When it became clearer that the plant might close in July 1999, the union organized an occupation that lasted for twelve days. CUT unionists felt affected by what might happen in Ipiranga, because the other two major Ford plants were organized by the CUT and members of the Ford-Ipiranga factory commission were sympathizers of the CUT.
92. Interview with author, December 13, 2001, São Paulo.
93. Anner, "Between Solidarity and Fragmentation,"