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A New Contract? The Joint Mobilization of Unionized and Contract Workers in Latin America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2022

Alisha C. Holland Open the ORCID record for Alisha C. Holland [Opens in a new window]
Alisha C. Holland*
Affiliation:
Alisha C. Holland is an associate professor in the Government Department at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. aholland@fas.harvard.edu.
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Abstract

Comparative political economists often divide Latin American labor markets into those with secure employment (insiders) and those without it (outsiders). Yet this division misses an increasingly important class of contract workers, who hold formal labor contracts but often lack labor stability, welfare benefits, and organizing rights. When do unionized and contract workers share preferences and engage in joint organizing? And when do their efforts result in policy change? Drawing on case studies of Chile and Peru, I argue that unionized workers mobilize contract workers when they see their own membership under threat and when they share physical workplaces with contractors. Labor coalitions succeed in policy reform when they leverage divisions within the business community and upcoming elections to build support. This article thus pushes scholars to move beyond dichotomies of formal versus informal workers and study how contract workers matter for collective action and labor policy outcomes.

Keywords

Subcontractinginformalityoutsourcinglabor regulation
Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 64 , Special Issue 2: The Politics of Informal Work , May 2022 , pp. 116 - 138
Copyright
© The Author 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the University of Miami

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Footnotes

She declares no conflict of interest in the publication of this manuscript.

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