Argentine Industrial Union

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Argentine Industrial Union
FocusBusiness advocacy
Location
Area served
 Argentina
MethodPolitical lobbying
Key people
Héctor Méndez, President
WebsiteUnión Industrial Argentina

The Argentine Industrial Union (Spanish: Unión Industrial Argentina, or, UIA) is the leading industrial employer federation and advocacy group in Argentina. The UIA is a member of the International Organisation of Employers.

History

Early development

A precursor to the Argentine Industrial Union was founded on August 29, 1875, by a group of Buenos Aires manufacturers. The Argentine Industrial Club was organized to "establish a society at the disposal of local manufacturers in their efforts to secure the adoption of economic reforms." Overshadowed during the 19th century by the dominant wool and hides merchants, local industry was further marginalized by the 1876 advent of transatlantic chilled beef and cereals shipping.[1]

The Industrial Club's early supporters in

exposition in 1877; but differences among its membership over support for President Nicolás Avellaneda led to the group's 1878 division. An initiative led by Corrientes Province Senator Antonio Cambaceres resulted in the February 7, 1887, establishment of the UIA, whose membership reflected a reunified industrial lobby.[1]

From marginalization to influence

The UIA, to be sure, represented at best a secondary sector in the

cottage industry). The UIA, which initially represented domestic manufacturers, was also overshadowed by the small, but growing, numbers of foreign industrial subsidiaries (mainly British). The group enjoyed increasing support among the nation's lawmakers, however, and the inaugural of Carlos Pellegrini as President following a political crisis made the UIA a powerful influence for the first time. One of the first milestones in this new era was the 1891 customs law, which for the first time in Argentine history set tariffs on a number of imported industrial supplies at or below those of finished goods.[2]

The return to

Julio Roca
to the Presidency in 1898 signalled a rollback in pro-industry government policy, however. The UIA reacted quickly, and in 1899, a rally of 70,000 industrial workers and supporters (in a city of half a million) gathered in front of Congress, where UIA President Francisco Seguí submitted a petition for a return of higher import tariffs. Upon receiving said petition, a member of the Congressional leadership stated that: "your banner is union, and seeing you united dispels all doubts as to your strength. The united hands of the worker and his boss is also on our national emblem."

Benefiting from its position as the world's leading recipient of investment from the British Empire, and the resulting expansion in railway lines, Argentine industry and agriculture both grew markedly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and economic growth overall averaged 8% in the generation after 1880.[3] Representing a sector which had grown to over 300,000 industrial workers by 1914, the UIA had become a fixture in policy discussions,[4] and this presence was symbolized by the 1922 opening of their new headquarters on the Avenida de Mayo (at a roughly equidistant point between Congress and the presidential offices at the Casa Rosada).

Headquarters of the Argentine Industrial Union on Avenida de Mayo, Buenos Aires.

The UIA's influence continued to grow with the nation's

Roca-Runciman Treaty, which further impeded the import of U.S.-made production machinery, was vocally opposed by the UIA (though without effect). Most long-standing, protective tariffs stood, however, and the economic recovery that began in the mid-1930s was fully extended to manufacturing.[2]

Industrial production grew by 50% between 1935 and 1945, and its profile became more diversified, as well.

agriculture for the first time.[4]

Political friction

The sudden prominence of the populist Labor Minister, Col.

national elections in 1946, the UIA vigorously supported the populist leader's opponent, José Tamborini. Perón's election that February handed the UIA its most serious setback since its establishment, however, when the President ordered it shuttered in 1947.[1]

A faction led by smaller manufacturers established the General Economic Council (CGE), instead. The CGE enjoyed Perón's support, and helped shape his largely pro-industry agenda in subsequent years. Perón's

Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, and the Argentine Rural Society) to establish ACIEL, a business roundtable, in 1959. ACIEL was also fostered by President Arturo Frondizi's Law of Foreign Investment, which helped usher in a wave of new, foreign industrial subsidiaries in the early 1960s. The rivalry between the CGE, the UIA, and ACIEL was stoked not only by the CGE's Peronist stance; but also by geographic rivalries between the UIA's increasingly Buenos Aires-centric membership and the CGE's more provincial one. Ultimately, however, foreign subsidiaries' disproportionate influence in the Juan Carlos Onganía dictatorship led to disputes with the UIA's domestic membership, and most of these subsidiaries withdrew from the UIA in favor of ACIEL in 1967.[5]

Manufacturing continued to grow in Argentina: it nearly doubled in output between 1945 and 1960, and again from 1960 to 1974. Perón's return from exile in 1973 helped lead to a fusion of the UIA and the industrial wing of the CGE into the Argentine Industrial Confederation (CINA). In contrast to his previous presidency, Perón enjoyed good relations with the group; they figured prominently in discussions leading to Economy Minister José Ber Gelbard's 1973 Social Pact, and Perón, in turn, worked with the CGT to keep left-wing unions in check.[2] Positioned more strongly amid a renewed economic boom, the UIA inaugurated its new headquarters in November 1974 - a 31-story building named after their influential early supporter, President Carlos Pellegrini.[6]

The new headquarters nears completion in 1973. A symbol of Argentine industrial growth, the building was sold to Pérez Companc in 2001.

This understanding soured after Perón's July 1974 death, however, and in 1975, his widow and successor (

March 1976 coup resulted in the CGE's ban, as well as in policies adverse to the nation's industrial sector.[2]

The

wage freezes on consumer demand and the Economy Minister's strong peso policy helped lead to an uneven industrial performance in the late 1970s, and ultimately to crisis. Manufacturing declined by 20% in 1981-82, and in some sectors, such as the textile and motor vehicle industries, by more than half.[2]

A decade of severe stagflation was followed by new Economy Minister

Convertibility Plan, in April 1991. The plan was initially endorsed by the UIA, which in return was able to obtain significant concessions from Cavallo, a free trade supporter. Cavallo responded to an increase in dumping by restricting clothing imports, for instance, and the sudden, initial boom in GDP (which grew by a third in four years) was shared by manufacturing. The Mexican peso crisis of 1995 exposed industry to the combined effects of a recession, an uncompetitive Argentine peso and low import tariffs - though they maintained a cordial, if more critical, alliance with the free market-oriented President Carlos Menem. Lacking real influence in the Menem administration, particularly after Cavallo's 1996 removal, the UIA relied increasingly on its access to the Argentine press (notably Clarín, the nation's premier news daily).[7]

The Convertibility Plan eventually became unsustainable, however, and a severe

belle époque
Avenida de Mayo headquarters.

Recovery and new challenges

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner confers with UIA leadership and public officials. The UIA remained broadly supportive of policies they see as pro-industry, while advocating for greater flexibility in these.

Following a chaotic and depressed 2002, the economy recovered beyond most observers' expectations. The appointment that April of a center-left economist who had helped shape the 1973 Social Pact,

U.S. dollars in subsequent years). The economy and industry grew by over 60% between 2002 and 2008, and UIA's relationship with the two Kirchner administrations remained positive.[8]

Subsequent evidence that the state statistical bureau, the

expansionary policies in general, while maintaining differences with the administration over import restrictions that limited manufacturers' access to foreign-made parts and supplies.[10][11]

In 2019 Carolina Castro was elected by the Asociación de Fábricas Argentinas de Componentes (Association of Argentine Component Factories) or AFAC to represent the automotive sector on the Executive Committee of the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA).[12]  She was the first woman to get a managerial position in the UIA in its 130 year-history.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c Historical Dictionary of Argentina. Scarecrow Press, 1978.
  2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Paul. The Crisis of Argentine Capitalism. University of North Carolina Press, 1990.
  3. ^ Jorge Ávila: Ingreso per cápita relativo 1875-2006 (in Spanish) Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b c Rock, David. Argentina, 1516-1982. University of California Press, 1987.
  5. ^ Brennan, James. Peronism and Argentina. Wilmington: Scholarly Resources, 1998.
  6. ^ Emporis: Torre Carlos Pellegrini[dead link]
  7. ^ Schneider, Ben Ross. Business, Politics, and the State in 20th Century Latin America: Business and Politics in Argentina, p. 190-2.
  8. ^ Clarín (December 29, 2006) (in Spanish)
  9. ^ Clarín (July 16, 2009) (in Spanish)
  10. ^ "De Mendiguren takes office as head of UIA". Buenos Aires Herald.
  11. ^ "Argentine industry asks for flexible imports but strongly supports government policies". Mercopress.
  12. ^ "Carolina Castro | Planeta de Libros". PlanetadeLibros (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-09-04.
  13. ^ "Quiénes son las 100 Mujeres elegidas por la BBC para 2020 (entre ellas 11 latinoamericanas)". BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-09-04.
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