Bensusán 2004

Bensusán 2004 in Middlebrook 2004  SEE SECOND TAKE BELOW!!

1. Underlying assumption 1: changing contexts has different effects on unions, based on distinction between old/corporatist and new trade unionism, which are centered on differences of
1. union autonomy vis a vis government and employers
2. characteristics of union leaderships (where they get legitimacy)
3. the extent of internal democracy
4. the existence of these three results in greater availability of resources, strategies, and innovative capacities to meet the challenges of the new political and economic context
2. Underlying assumption 2: export-oriented development has increased power of capital
1. this in turn has led to a decline in unions’ ability to achieve gains for their members
3. Structure of political opportunities
1. political system’s degree of openness, which is the opportunities available for unions to influence political sphere
2. character of elite political alliances, and opportunity for unions to affect these
3. political influence on international actors
4. limits on the capacity of the state for repression
5. space available for labor issues in the national agenda
4. “The Nature of Mexican Trade Unions”
1. CROM (Morones) controlled labor apparatus in state during part of Obregón era (1924-28), set up structures that improved their position but at the cost of heavy state intervention into labor affairs
2. structure of labor interest mediation with state was monopolistic
1. labor unions expected to enforce discipline with regard to government policies
2. this, in turn, meant union democracy ran counter to state structure
1. labor movement focuses on using institutional resources for labor power (judiciary, politics)
2. other power sources not used, like solidarity, mobilization, coordination, and strong identification between leadership and rank and file -- ALL REVITALIZATION IDEAS
3. Result:  Corporatist part of the labor movement grew over time without much grassroots effort
5. Typology of Labor Organization
1. grouped by these characteristics:
1. main source of economic and political resources
2. relationship with the state and stance on neoliberal policies
3. relationship with employers
4. degree of internal democracy and incentives that exist for leaders to seek/have support of rank and file

Type of Labor Organization	Source of resources	Relationship with state	relationship with employers	degree of internal democracy
State Corporatist (CTM, CROM, CROC)	State	subordination and support	cooperation/ complicity	low (predominance of negative incentives)
Social (STRM, FESEBES, UNT) probably SME, too	Societal/state	autonomy and conditional support	cooperation	medium (combo of negative and positive incentives
Movement (CIPM**, CNTE, FAT*)	societal	autonomy and critical positions	resistance and conditional cooperation	high (predominance of positive incentives)

*FAT, however, in 1990s moved more towards Social category, joined UNT

**CIPM no longer exists because UNT moved to slightly more radical public policy demands, pushing CIPM out

6. Impact of Neoliberal Restructuring
1. Structure of Economic opportunities
1. informal sector grew, wages stagnated or declined, social benefits were cut, employment fell in most heavily unionized industries
2. PRI not forthcoming with “palliatives”, even as they begin to lose in the polls
3. power of foreign investors takes precedence over all, workers interests have no defense
4. 1972-82: great for unions, thanks to petrodollars
5. 1983-88:
1. sharp reduction in public spending
2. devaluation decimates wages
3. employment not matching population growth
6. 1989-1994: modest recovery
1. inflation held back thanks to pacts with organized labor
2. modest growth in manufacturing wages
3. BUT privatizations and foreign competition limit CB
1. companies want increased flexibility
2. unions not prepared to deal with this transformation
4. wage differences between  unionized and non-unionized workers all-but disappear
5. public spending picks back up a bit, but this focuses on urban poor, does not benefits unions (state corp)
7. Peso devaluation in 1994!
8. MEXICO’s comparative advantage becomes low wages
1. official minimum wages drop precipitously, especially during 1994 peso crisis
2. contract negotiated wages also fall well-below inflation, so unions not able to win back anything lost in economic crises
9. state-corporatist unions dialogue with business, become the preferred unions because they do not oppose business’s desire to modernize, flexibilize, create individual employment relations
10. “Labor legislation proved useless to protect workers’ rights, but it kept the corporatist shackles intact and gave the government a means to repress expressions of non-conformism.  All of this increased the power of capital and weakened trade unions’ bargaining ability.” (252)
1. Prevented creation of counterweight to neoliberal turn:
1. The discretionary character and government control of legal protection based on JCAs
2. government control of wages
3. absence of autonomy for wage-earners’ demands
2. Political Opportunities: Two major changes
1. Increasing transparency and fairness of elections, and rise of opposition parties, placed new competitive pressures on PRI candidates
1. PRI leaders actually have to be elected now, can’t just play favorites, and to be elected you need to be pro-business
2. though many PAN governments don’t mess with CTM
2. Decreasing power of Presidency
1. limits ability of president to give favors
2. presidential initiatives no longer railroaded through Congress
3. Repressive Capacities of the State
1. In the past, Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) supports employers and official leaders, to the detriment of independent unions
1. some official leaders targeted:
1. La Quina (Petroleros)
2. Gonzalez Cavazos (maquila union in Tamaulipas)
2. YET, currently the there is much greater opportunity for independent labor unions to mobilize with less threat of repression
1. obviously, though, not 100% correct all the time
4. CTM and others have lost all credibility
5. UNT has become a more legitimate actor, enjoys public support
3. The Space for the Labor Agenda
1. Limited, transition was an alternation
2. conservative CT and business dominating discussion of labor law reform
4. New Allies: NGOS
1. cooperation with USA, blah blah, not much
5. Neoliberal restructuring has eroded all old sources of state-corporatist resources
1. need new unions to be
1. based on voluntary membership
2. autonomous from employers and state
3. and internally democratic
2. but ECONOMIC STATISM and AUTHORITARIAN LABOR LAW still around
1. these controls now used to keep wages low in Mexico
2. corporatist controls useful, helpful in keeping unions docile
3. democracy is new and independent social organization is incipient
1. hard to find allies, and don’t want to become too reliant on allies
2. also, old corp unions don’t want to lose connection to government, fear they won’t be able to keep power any other way
6. Impact on Unions Strategies
1. CTM
1. backed the government at every term, not dissimilar than in many other places
2. but different from other places, CTM had no long-term plan for getting back resources
3. trusted top-down arrangements that would increase its membership
1. but failed to adequately deal with US manufacturers who wanted NO unions
2. PRD and PAN labor legislation proposal threatened exclusion clauses
3. did not increase active commitment to workers
4. OVERALL, CTM unable to protect anything for workers, simply subordinated to government wishes over and over again, bore all the costs of transition
1. still had some seats in Congress which have resulted in some material benefits
2. but these seats prove less and less helpful, as they were gained only by agreeing to be complicit in restructuring
2. New Trade Unionism
1. in the short term, STRM and FAT have been able to bargain and negotiate innovative arrangements in privatization and flexibilization, all without selling out member interests
2. in the long term, there are two choices for UNT
1. broader social movement
2. narrower syndicalist, politically conservative
3. overall, though, UNT looking to be autonomous from government, make CB autonomous from government
3. Social movement tactics
1. STRM used outside alliances to bargain for TELMEX stuff
2. FAT and STRM revived May Day parades when CTM stopped doing them
3. creation of UNT
4. STRM and FAT have started civil society organizations (271)
7. Power resources and Capabilities of Mexican Unions
1. Official
1. Loss of union membership through neoliberal period
2. CTM’s lack of legitimacy means it cannot mobilize
2. New Unionism
1. all sorts of great ideas (see page 279)
2. but all sorts of troubles:  member unions pretty weak (few members)
3. can they turn all their positives into real power?
8. In an increasingly competitive arena, CTM will lose out in truly competitive places, because new unions better protect workers interests
9. BUT not sure given labor institutions how competitive environment will actually be

TAKE TWO

1.       Uses McAdam’s political opportunity structure framework, but in an odd way

2.       Typology of Labor Organizations

a.       State-corporatist

                                                              i.      dependent on state

                                                            ii.      power arises from

1.       control of rank and file

2.       participation in government agencies

3.       political office holding

                                                           iii.      no internal democracy

                                                          iv.      unions grant many concessions in order to remain the only arbiter between workers and management

b.      social trade unionism

                                                              i.      power from state and from social actors (either rank and file or alliances with other unions)

1.       began distancing themselves from state corporatism in the 1980s

2.       diversified power resources

                                                            ii.      average levels of internal democracy

1.       elected officials, but

2.       national leadership has relatively centralized control over union actions

c.       movement unionism

                                                              i.      openly challenge state

                                                            ii.      very democratic

                                                           iii.      FAT was, but became more social trade union-ish in 1990s; UNT initially seems like this

3.       Discussion on 1980s and 1990s changes to political economy

a.       Employers prefer to work with official unions than individual workers, as the former offered protection contracts

b.      Anti-union trend among employers mirrors US feelings

c.       …Mexican labor legislation (which did not undergo any significant modification whatsoever) protected the interests of capital by guaranteeing its strategy of competing through low wages and high productivity…Thus labor legislation proved useless to protect workers’ rights, but it kept the corporatist shackles intact…” (252)

4.       Limits on Presidentialism

a.       Prez candidates have to actually compete after 1988

                                                              i.      But opposition parties are not including labor leaders on their election lists, or are keeping them low on the list

                                                            ii.      Overall, labor unions have only lost seats in congress since 1979

b.      Neoliberal transformation decreased president’s discretionary power

5.       Decreasing ability of state to be repressive

a.       3b means president/government are simply less able to repress anyone, though it’s still possible

b.      Dissident unions are creating more/better/bigger alliances with political parties, social movements, and international groups

6.       International NGOs can now actually do things

7.       Problem for unions

a.       Neoliberalism diminished old sites of power for unions

b.      Authoritarian nature of old corporatism remains

c.       New union movements still weak

d.      Overall, workers forced to bear the brunt of the transition, and still have no ability to fight these things

8.       CTM’s strategy was wait and see

a.       Capitulate now (except on labor law)

b.      Try and win back concessions later

c.       No push for internal democracy

d.      Stuck to government’s line about productivity, trade liberalization, etc.

e.      CTM now gets fewer seats in Congress, and has less access to Prez

9.       UNT/New trade unionism peeking out its head

a.       Increased voice, gains at local/plant level CB

                                                              i.      Innovative agreements “without selling out members’ interests”

b.      UNT proposes new labor law in 2002, but unable to drum up much support from PRD

c.       FAT/UE as way to use international alliances to gird local power, organize, educate

d.      UNT has radicalized its demands, but still sits alongside official unions in negotiations – what’s the long term strategy?!

10.   Official movement wants to keep corporatist arrangements, otherwise fear independent unions will get their members.

11.   FUTURE UNCLEAR

12.   Not well written

13.   Good discussions of FAT and STRM examples