Mexican Labor Unions: A framework
Research on the labor movement in Mexico had shown the political power held by unions, greatly as a result of to the historic alliance among unions and the Mexican State through the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) (Middlebrook 1995). At least until new Millennium, when the opposite party –PAN- (National Action Party) won the national election. On one side, official trade unions had an important influence in overall wages and benefit levels through national or regional commissions or legislation – such as in setting minimum wages or influencing social security legislation – and the specifics of the particular bargaining on wages and benefits, and productivity and profits (Fairris, 2007:187). On the …show more content…
As a result, traditional labor unions diminished their capacity to negotiate with employers and the Mexican State, it was a period of large instability which principal consequence was the reduction of union affiliation (La Botz, 2001; Esquinica, Marco Tulio and Melgoza, Javier, 2006; Ferris, 2007; Salas 2008). This period was followed by the emergence of numerous struggles to establish autonomous and independent unions from the State, along the promotion of substantive adjustments to federal labor …show more content…
On one side, some of labor federation allied themselves with the new government, especially public employments and bureaucratic sector. On other side, workers as miners and electricians have shown a high level of militancy in reaction to government privatization initiatives. Therefore, independent labor unions have gotten notoriety due to their critical posturing and their advances with the international labor organizations and social movements.
An approach on the state of the unions allow identifies three types of unions in Mexico (Bensunsan, 2004). In the first category are official trade unions that keep up a strong tie with Mexican State and their goal are preserve a political alliances with them, even though the result is a national strategy to subordinate workers’ rights. Teachers and Petroleum Trade Unions illustrate this kind of organizations.
In the second category are social trade unions, some of them were official trade unions and at the beginning they had fragile relationships with the Mexican government. Social trade unions are democratic, autonomous and sought to represent workers interests and have forged external alliances. Examples of these organizations are the UNT and the Electricians Union (Bensunsán, 2004; Gree, Stevens and Stephens,
Research on the labor movement in Mexico had shown the political power held by unions, greatly as a result of to the historic alliance among unions and the Mexican State through the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) (Middlebrook 1995). At least until new Millennium, when the opposite party –PAN- (National Action Party) won the national election. On one side, official trade unions had an important influence in overall wages and benefit levels through national or regional commissions or legislation – such as in setting minimum wages or influencing social security legislation – and the specifics of the particular bargaining on wages and benefits, and productivity and profits (Fairris, 2007:187). On the …show more content…
As a result, traditional labor unions diminished their capacity to negotiate with employers and the Mexican State, it was a period of large instability which principal consequence was the reduction of union affiliation (La Botz, 2001; Esquinica, Marco Tulio and Melgoza, Javier, 2006; Ferris, 2007; Salas 2008). This period was followed by the emergence of numerous struggles to establish autonomous and independent unions from the State, along the promotion of substantive adjustments to federal labor …show more content…
On one side, some of labor federation allied themselves with the new government, especially public employments and bureaucratic sector. On other side, workers as miners and electricians have shown a high level of militancy in reaction to government privatization initiatives. Therefore, independent labor unions have gotten notoriety due to their critical posturing and their advances with the international labor organizations and social movements.
An approach on the state of the unions allow identifies three types of unions in Mexico (Bensunsan, 2004). In the first category are official trade unions that keep up a strong tie with Mexican State and their goal are preserve a political alliances with them, even though the result is a national strategy to subordinate workers’ rights. Teachers and Petroleum Trade Unions illustrate this kind of organizations.
In the second category are social trade unions, some of them were official trade unions and at the beginning they had fragile relationships with the Mexican government. Social trade unions are democratic, autonomous and sought to represent workers interests and have forged external alliances. Examples of these organizations are the UNT and the Electricians Union (Bensunsán, 2004; Gree, Stevens and Stephens,