Trade unions in Argentina
National organization(s) | CTA |
---|---|
International Labour Organization | |
Argentina is a member of the ILO | |
Convention ratification | |
Freedom of Association | 18 January 1960 |
Right to Organise | 24 September 1956 |
Trade unions in Argentina have traditionally played a strong role in the politics of the nation. The largest trade union association, the Confederación General del Trabajo has been a force since the 1930s, and approximately 40% of workers in the formal economy are unionized.[1]
The FORA
The
Following the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the founding of the Profintern, the Argentine Syndicates' Union (USA) was created in March 1922. Although more radical than FORA IX, the USA did not join the Profintern and remained independent from any international affiliation. Meanwhile, the FORA V was in steady decline, and was dissolved shortly before the installation of José Félix Uriburu's dictatorship, which opened up the years of the Infamous Decade.
The Infamous Decade
At the time of the 1930 coup, three trade unions existed in Argentina: the
Although the
Unions and Perón
As secretary of labor under the military regime that came to power in 1943, Colonel Juan Perón courted the unions and working class and by doing so established a power base that threatened the government. As a result, Perón was demoted and imprisoned, but the unions showed their strength in a multitudinous demonstration on October 17, 1945, that effectively propelled Perón towards the presidency.
As president, Perón consolidated both his power over the union movement (edging out and suppressing for instance unionists from
When in his turn Perón was overthrown and forced into exile (in 1955), the
Hence during the 1960s and early 1970s, Peronism was split between a wing associated with the union movement on the one hand, and on the other hand a more radical wing inspired by third worldism and
Over the course of the next few months, Perón sided with the unions rather than with the youth, whose armed groups were increasingly targeted by the regime that they themselves supported. After Perón's death and with the accession of his wife Isabel Perón to the presidency, this persecution only increased, and Argentine society headed towards open civil war in which a union-backed power directed in part by José López Rega faced increased militancy on the part of the Montoneros and others.
With the onset of the military regime that overthrew Isabel Perón in 1976, trade unions were themselves also violently suppressed. However, they again demonstrated their strength with general strikes and demonstrations during the lead-up to the restoration of civilian government in 1983.
Unions today
Argentine workers' right to strike is protected by law, but unauthorized demonstrations have involved direct conflict with police in recent years.
Argentina's relatively inflexible labour market has been cited as a component of the country's high unemployment problem,[1] and in the 1990s the government struggled to introduce labour laws which, among other things, would reduce the ability to bargain collectively above the enterprise level, and increase labour market flexibility. These changes were strongly opposed by the unions, including two general strikes in 1996. By 1998 measures agreed to by both sides had been passed, with industry-wide bargaining intact, and the removal of the temporary contract system which had allowed for workers with no social benefits.[1]
Additional labour reforms were passed in 2004.
The union movement was weakened under the neoliberal conditions imposed first by the military junta and later reinforced by
Still, the heritage of Argentina's long history of labor organization remains important to this day.
References
- ^ ISBN 0-9543811-5-7.
- ^ a b c d Felipe Pigna, Los Mitos de la Historia Argentina, 3, ed. Planeta, 2006, p.286
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-521-46682-0.
- James McGuire, Peronism without Perón: Unions, Parties, and Democracy in Argentina. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997.