Middlebrook 1995

Middlebrook (1995)

1. Chapter 1: Mass Politics and Regime formation
   1. On the concept of Post-revolutionary Authoritarian rule
      1. Features:
         1. Prominence of mas actors
            1. May be mobilized less and less over time
            2. Still important base of control for government
         2. Political ideals from revolutionary era
            1. Something referencing social change
            2. Rule is legitimated by invoking these symbols/ideologies
            3. Cannot be empty promises, must deliver the goods as well
         3. Dual importance of state and hegemonic party
            1. Party mobilizes social base
            2. Party can serve to cement social alliances
            3. Party can serve as method through which social allies can gain access to state apparatus
   2. Framework for studying mass politics in authoritarian regimes
      1. Limitations on mass mobilization
         1. Can happen through public apathy, legal restrictions, channeling mobilization through the party.
      2. Limits on sociopolitical pluralism
      3. Limits on Demand articulation
         1. Restrictions creates situation in which groups must negotiate, compromise, or modify their goals
   3. (28) “ The party [PRI (and its predecessors)] has been the principal channel through which leaders of lower class organizations achieve upward political mobility”
      1. BUT: the party never developed autonomous means of limiting its constituents’ political actions, it relied on state power for those controls.
      2. THUS: organized labor enjoyed relative autonomy in the party framework (though certainly not in the state regime)
   4. Central Argument: to understand the bases of elite control over and general character of mass politics, must understand both state and societal controls over the labor movement
      1. State = labor law, etc.
      2. Societal = labor unions’ reliance on state subsidies
         1. Economic structure that influenced patterns of unionization and CB power
         2. Organizational form of the labor movement
         3. Political ideas that influence policy preferences and political response strategies
2. Chapter 2: State Structures and political Control
   1. (42) “On the one hand, expanded state administrative capacity gradually increased governing elites’ ability to control developments in the labor sector. On the other hand, legal recognition of basic labor rights and inclusion of worker representatives in come administrative structures strengthened organized labor by providing important symbolic and material benefits to both unions and individual workers.”
   2. (51-2) 1931 Ley Federal del Trabajo institutionalized activist role of government in protection f workers at a time when the unions weren’t strong enough to protect themselves (the CROM had fallen out of power soon before 1930)
      1. Leads to creation of Secretary of Labor (STPS, Secretaria del Trabajo y Previsión Social), as well as the CTM
   3. JCA’s preserves the distinction between federal and local jurisdictions (60)
   4. Labor seat on JCA’s help unions expand their organizations (61-62)
   5. Reconocimiento, official recognition/registration of unions, improves power of unions compared to employers, but also gives state power over unions (65)
   6. State has some ability to meddle in union internal affairs (elections, etc.) but not much. Also, requirements do not safeguard union democracy.
   7. Strikes must be registered, only occur after arbitration proceedings have concluded (69)
3. Chapter 3 – The challenge of mass participation and the origins of Mexico’s state subsidized labor movement
   1. Before the revolution, labor movements were dispersed, and in small enterprises, who had little bargaining power
   2. Morones, while founding the CROM
      1. marginalized the anarchosyndicalists, and
      2. decided they need to ally with the government to have any power
   3. CROM never made inroads in industries with strong unions, like railroad workers and electrical workers
   4. Relations between the CROM and Obregon quickly soured, were eventually charged with assassination of Obregon!
   5. CTM founded by CROM dissidents and under Cardenas’ hope to unite labor movement to support him, CROM remains relatively pro-Calles
   6. Even while he supported the CTM, Cardenas worked against the CTM
      1. He helped found the FSTSE to keep government workers out of the hands of the CTM
      2. He kept peasants out of the CTM
   7. Cardenas’s PRM first to officially tie labor to an official political party (1938), SECTORS
   8. SME leaves CTM in 1939 after CTM supports presidential candidate Camacho
   9. Subsidies to labor movement
      1. Legal
         1. Exclusion clauses
         2. Separation clauses
      2. Financial
         1. CTM had trouble collecting dues, but stayed solvent
         2. Middlebrook hints at direct monetary subsidies
      3. Political
         1. Preferential access to electoral lists of PRM/PRI and administrative positions
            1. Leverage for union
            2. Personal benefit
         2. No reelection meant constant demand for new and loyal candidates
         3. CTM dominated these positions
         4. Chair in the Chamber of Deputies was most available, some Senate seats, practically no governorships (too important to PRI power structure to give away as spoils)
   10. (106) “The consolidation of the post-revolutionary social pact occurred, then, not with CTM membership in the governing party but with the political triumph of progovernment labor leaders in the aftermath of a major labor crisis in the late 1940s” (emphasis added by me!)
4. Chapter 4: Turning Point the 1947-51 Labor Crisis
   1. Case study on railroad workers
   2. RR, like other protected sectors, autonomous, strong, politically minded
   3. During labor crisis (post-WWII) government supports more pragmatic leadership, alternative/radical paths slowly squelched
   4. Once these unions are turned toward pragmatic (non-radical) ends
      1. CTM dominant, BUT:
      2. Begins period of truly institutionalized social pact
         1. Previously pact had rested on shoulders of President and specific union confederations
   5. Labor movement united under CT in 1966, but only a façade under which fragmentation persists
   6. Social pact:
      1. Unions (leaders) can’t survive without political support
      2. Unions become effective tools of worker control for political leaders
   7. Also, CROC formed in 1952 by Aleman government, “to unite disparate labor groups in an organization that was simultaneously…
      1. …Loyal to the government (it was affiliated with the PRI), and…
      2. …Hostile to the CTM.” (page 250)
      3. United some conservative groups (like the CPN, Confederación Proletaria Nacional) and the CUT (formerly lefty under RR workers leaders)
5. Chapter 5: State Structures, Political Control, and Labor Participation: an Assessment
   1. STRIKES: “…postrevolutionary governments generally maintained strong control over stieks in federal-jurisdiction economic activities, regardless of changes in the political character of different presidential administrations.” (171)
   2. LABOR UNION REGISTRATION: Political influence/action can influence rates of labor union registration, but generally no variables explained differences in time to register, meaning there was NO effect due to
      1. presidential administration
      2. difference in confederation
   3. WORKER DEMAND RESOLUTION:
      1. Includes an in-depth case of RR workers union
      2. Some presidential effect, but also surprising anti-worker effect for Cardenas
6. Chapter 6: Labor Politics and ISI
   1. ISI good and bad
      1. Development, work, but
      2. Balance of payment problems
      3. Inflation problems
      4. Result: people have jobs, but their wages are falling!
   2. CTM often spoke radically, acted pragmatically when ISI stumbled and inflation rose
   3. Section on democracy in Mexican automobile sector
      1. Neither presidential policy nor strength of state labor federations adequately explains democratization (229)
      2. Car mfg. undergoing changes, less paternal relations, just-in-time0ish style prxn, and modern assembly line
      3. Workers viewed democratization seen as a way to gain better bargaining power, as their leaders were initially unable to cope with their new demands
      4. Workplace differences (especially with delegado system) important to explaining variation across auto plants (236)
      5. Democratic unions generally better at gaining control of production, bad at increasing wages, struck more often
7. Chapter 7: Labor Politics under Economic Stress in the 1980s
   1. Failure of ISI
      1. Economic difficulties, interest rates, defaults
      2. Less government spending
      3. Inflation!!!
   2. Organized Labor’s Response
      1. Unions never thought they were adequately compensated for sacrifices during 1976-7 crisis
      2. De la Madrid agrees to price controls in 1983, then immediately breaks his deal
      3. NO strike petitions approved
      4. CROC and CROM used to harass CTM
      5. 1984 CTM threatens general strike, but steps back and agrees to negotiate on de la Madrid’s terms, CT makes demands but never gains anything real
      6. WORKERS LOSE
      7. “The CTM’s historical reluctance to pursue more aggressive collective action in support of workers’ interests is one of the most noteworthy aspects of state-labor relations in Mexico.” (265)
   3. What explains unions’ actions?
      1. Usual suspects
         1. Crisis weakened bargaining power
            1. CTM had heterogeneous members
            2. None/few in strategic industries
         2. Government control over strikes and union recognition
         3. CTM had more deputies in Congress, maybe thought they’d recoup losses later?
      2. New ideas
         1. Internal weakness of CTM, others
         2. Leaders’ (Velazquez’s) political beleifs
            1. (Weakish)
            2. Leaders’ fear that a true mobilization would be a breeding ground for union democracy, undermine their old control over unions
   4. Industrial restructuring in automobile industry
      1. Automakers open new plants, get CTM unions, undermine democratic unions
      2. CTM unions give management much more leeway on production methods, democratic unions able to fight back a bit
      3. Volkswagen at Puebla
         1. Leaders capitulate a bit in secret agreement
         2. Midlevel and rank and file revolt
         3. Union turmoil allows VW (thanks to JFCA decision) to fire everyone, rehire who they want, keep pliable union
      4. Flexible contracts more important than low wages to managers! (286)
   5. Privatization of state-owned firms crushed official unions ability to use political influence to win economic demands
   6. State-subsidized labor organizations lost their ability to win concessions, but maintained their significance as instruments of political control of workers.
8. CONCLUSION
   1. Union/party alliance
      1. Benefitted labor because resulted in subsidies
      2. Benefitted party because party had no other means of controlling mass base
   2. CTM resisted democratic opening: why?! Central question of the chapter
   3. Over time unions had experienced a cumulative weakening after presidents defined and redefined the alliance
   4. Unions weakest point ever in 1980s/90s, and business gains better foothold with government
   5. BUT labor still important for getting out the vote
      1. This control, however, became less reliable (see 1988 prez election)
   6. “Because post-revoutionary authoritarian regimes generally develop distinctive ideologies that give workers a special place in postrevolutionary society…labor has a stronger interest in preserving elements of the status quo…” (317)
      1. Long-term democratization may be a good thing, BUT
      2. Short term democratization may pose significant costs to labor unions
   7. As jobs move north in Mexico, they further weaken unions by
      1. Dispersing labor
      2. Gets far away from political center of country
      3. Move closer to anti-union areas of the country.
   8. Labor leaders also suck at times, protection contracts
   9. Political parties are an important place where labor can get power, but
      1. Have the taint of old style PRI relationships
      2. PRD, rest of left have focused on electoral competitions, not alliances with unions (325-6)
   10. Finally, labor law needs to change, bad!