Toward Flexible Industrial Relations? Neo‐Liberalism, Democracy, and Labor Reform in Latin America

Cook, María Lorena

doi:10.1111/0019-8676.00090

Cited by 59 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…María Lorena Cook's research indicates that not all labor law reforms entailed flexibility in order to facilitate market dynamics (Cook 1998. Cook writes, "Some countries made their laws more flexible.…”

Section: Globalization and Collective Labor Law Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sources: Data on labor law reform (mid-1980s through 1990s) based on Bronstein 1995;Cook 1998Murillo and Schrank 2005;Murillo 2005 1982). The recent decline in industry (deindustrialization) in developed economies is therefore seen as a principal cause of declining union power in those countries (Lee 2005).…”

Section: Economic Restructuring In Latin Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Bolivia, minor protective reforms were enacted to the labor law in 1995 (Cook 1998), although most labor laws were not reformed, and remain obsolete. Informalization, privatization, and declines in the mining sector have all hurt the labor movement.…”

Section: Labor Law Reform and Union Power In Latin Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Paraguay, constitutional reforms in 1992 extended the right to strike to public sector workers, and the Labor Code reforms that followed in 1993 and 1995 facilitated union formation and union plurality (Bronstein 1997, 24;Cook 1998). Unionization initially increased following democratization.…”

Section: Labor Law Reform and Union Power In Latin Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Meeting the Challenges of Industrial Restructuring: Labor Reform and Enforcement in Latin America

Anner¹

2008

Lat. Am. polit. soc.

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Despite a strengthening of collective labor rights in Latin America over the last 15 years, most labor movements in the region have lost power because neither the content nor the enforcement mechanisms associated with the labor reforms fully took into consideration the challenges presented by economic restructuring. Reforms facilitating union formation did not strengthen unions but instead increased union fragmentation. Collective bargaining structures did not respond to the exigencies of international outsourcing; and the initial round of reforms in the 1990s did not contemplate the need to strengthen labor law enforcement mechanisms at a time when heightened international competition created a need for greater state vigilance of labor standards. Recent reforms or proposed reforms hold more promise for labor, but truly union-friendly labor relations regimes require deeper changes. A review of several Latin American cases is followed by a closer examination of Brazil and El Salvador. M ost scholars concur that globalization has not engendered an unambiguous decline in the protective role of the state. Notably, scholars of Latin American politics have argued that the state did not abandon its legal protections of organized labor; most collective labor law reforms in Latin America have been "union-friendly" (Bronstein 1995;Cook 1998;Córdova 1996;Murillo and Schrank 2005). This is partly because neoliberal economic reforms often coincided with processes of democratization that restored or deepened labor rights. It also is the result of international activist pressure and domestic coalitions between labor unions and labor-based political parties (Murillo and Schrank 2005).The aforementioned literature has made a valuable contribution to our understanding of the transformation of employment relations in Latin America. It has rectified the misperception that labor law reform was a one-way affair in which employers and neoliberal governments pushed through their free market agenda unopposed. This literature highlights the role of national and international labor actors and their allies and reveals their capacity to influence reform processes. Yet now,

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Section: Globalization and Collective Labor Law Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Economic Restructuring In Latin Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Labor Law Reform and Union Power In Latin Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Labor Law Reform and Union Power In Latin Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Meeting the Challenges of Industrial Restructuring: Labor Reform and Enforcement in Latin America

Anner¹

2008

Lat. Am. polit. soc.

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“…Unions have therefore focused their strategies mainly on lobbying state actors, in particular through personal relationships with political leaders. This has in turn contributed to increasing unions' closeness to the state sphere (Cook, 1998). In addition, from 2003 to 2010 Luís Inácio Lula da Silva-better known as Lula-was president of Brazil.…”

Section: Brazilian Unions: State-embedded Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Confidence in Brazilian Unions

Frangi¹,

Memoli²

2014

Latin American Perspectives

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Although unions in Brazil are marginally effective in defining the employer-employee relationship, confidence in unions is high and exhibits a positive trend over time. A logistic regression model based on the Latinobarometer data series (1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009) empirically verifies that unions' state embeddedness really does matter in explaining confidence in unions in Brazil (i.e., confidence in government, especially during the Lula presidency, has a significant positive effect). Moreover, people who have a negative perception of their personal economic situations and are less trustful of others are more inclined to have confidence in unions. Não obstante o efeito bem limitado e marginal dos sindicatos na determinação das relações entre o patrão e o empregado, se mantem alto a confiança nos sindiatos e essa confiança mostra uma tendência positiva no decorrer do tempo. Um modelo de regressão logística baseado no série de dados Latinobarómetro (1996-2009) verifica empiricalmente que a integração dos sindicatos no Estado importa para explicar essa confiança neles, dado que a confiança no governo, sobretudo durante a presidência do Lula, tem tido um efeito positivo. Além disso, as pessoas cuja percepção da sua situação econômica pessoal seja negativa e que tenha menos confiança nos outros inclinam mais para confiar nos sindicatos.

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A Comparative Analysis of Corporate Governance Systems in Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Venezuela

Aguilera

Corporate Governance in Developing Economies

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Toward Flexible Industrial Relations? Neo‐Liberalism, Democracy, and Labor Reform in Latin America

Cited by 59 publications

References 5 publications

Meeting the Challenges of Industrial Restructuring: Labor Reform and Enforcement in Latin America

Meeting the Challenges of Industrial Restructuring: Labor Reform and Enforcement in Latin America

Confidence in Brazilian Unions

A Comparative Analysis of Corporate Governance Systems in Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Venezuela

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