Union democracy and strategic capacity: between economic reform and political transition

Abstract

The market-oriented reforms adopted in several Latin American countries during the last two decades have dramatically changed the context in which they were operating unions. One of the most significant changes was the smallest margin of maneuver for governments to define their internal policies and keep old commitments to workers, characteristic of systems dominant in some countries of the region cut corporate labor relations. the result was the growing imbalance in the bargaining power of labor and capital, which resulted in a inequitable distribution of costs and benefits of economic change.