Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T13:22:16.689Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Explaining Strike Outcomes in Chile: Associational Power, Structural Power, and Spatial Strategies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Joel Stillerman
Joel Stillerman*
Affiliation:
Grand Valley State University. [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Research on strikes has traditionally focused on how economic, institutional, and political variables shape strike patterns. Recent work examines how workers' structural, associational, and symbolic power facilitate strikes. Building on this research, this article asks, what factors determine strike outcomes? It analyzes four strikes at MADECO, Chile's largest copper manufacturer, across democratic, authoritarian, and postauthoritarian regimes. Using qualitative and documentary evidence, it argues that strike outcomes reflect workers' capacity to halt or disrupt production and to access government allies who can pressure management to settle strikes in workers' favor. Outcomes vary based on the political composition of government, workers' capacity to halt production, and industry's and government's dependence on foreign investment. MADECO workers' location in Santiago, near national officials, allowed them to mobilize at the local, national, and international scales to pressure management. Comparisons with other strikes in Chile, Argentina, and Peru identify similar mobilization patterns.

Type
Research
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 59 , Issue 1 , Spring 2017 , pp. 96 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Angell, Alan. 1972. Politics and the Labour Movement in Chile. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Aravena, Antonio, and Núñez, Daniel, eds. 2009. El renacer de la huelga obrera en Chile. Santiago: Instituto de Ciencias Alejandro Lipschutz.Google Scholar
Armstrong, Alberto, and Águila, Rafael A.. 2006. Evolución del conflicto laboral en Chile, 1961–2002. Santiago: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.Google Scholar
Ashenfelter, Orley, and Johnson, George E.. 1969. Bargaining Theory, Trade Unions, and Industrial Strike Activity. American Economic Review 59, 1: 35–49.Google Scholar
Barrera, Manuel, and Samuel Valenzuela, J.. 1986. The Development of Labor Movement Opposition to the Military Regime. In Military Rule in Chile, ed. Valenzuela, Arturo and Samuel Valenzuela, J.. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 230–70.Google Scholar
Bezuidenhout, Andries, and Webster, Edward. 2010. Contesting the New Politics of Space: Labour and Capital in the White Goods Industry in Southern Africa. In The Handbook of Employment and Society: Working Space, ed. McGrath-Champ, Susan, Herod, Andrew, and Rainnie, Al. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 368–82.Google Scholar
Burawoy, Michael. 1998. The Extended Case Method. Sociological Theory 16, 1: 4–33.Google Scholar
Campero, Guillermo, and Valenzuela, José A.. 1984. El movimiento sindical bajo el régimen militar chileno, 1973–1981. Santiago: Instituto Latinoamericano de Estudios Transnacionales.Google Scholar
Chile. Cámara de Diputados. 1960. Sesión 18a. en jueves 7 de julio 1960. Conflictos de trabajo en las industrias “Manufacturera de Metales, S.A.” (MADEMSA) y “Manufacturera de Cobre, S.A.” (MADECO). Actuación del cuerpo de carabineros—Integrantes de la Comisión Especial designada en sesión anterior. Proyecto de Acuerdo para segunda discusión. July 7. Samtiago: Biblioteca del Congreso.Google Scholar
Chile. Cámara de Diputados. 1965. Sesión 20. Conflicto que afecta al personal de la industria MADECO. November 18. Santiago: Biblioteca del Congreso.Google Scholar
Chile. Diario de Sesiones del Senado . 1960. Sesión 6a en 8 de junio del 1960. Incidentes con fuerzas de carabineros, en huelga de obreros de MADECO y MADEMSA. June 8. Santiago: Biblioteca del Congreso.Google Scholar
Chile, Segundo Juzgado de Letras del Trabajo. 1994. Demanda laboral por reliquidación de pagos de horas extraordinarias. May 16. Santiago: Sindicato # 1 MADECO Archive.Google Scholar
Chun, Jennifer. 2009. Organizing at the Margins: The Symbolic Politics of Labor in South Korea and the United States. Ithaca: ILR Press.Google Scholar
Clarín (Santiago). 1960. Alessandri culpó a los partidos de gobierno de no haber enviado proyecto de reajuste. May 22: 5.Google Scholar
Clarín (Santiago). 1965. Los trabajadores de Santiago brindaron apoyo y estímulo a obreros de cobre. November 24: 3.Google Scholar
Cobre (Santiago). 1964. Reglamentan ley que declara empleados a fresadores, matriceros y torneros. 6 (April): 7.Google Scholar
Conferencia Intersindical Metropolitana. 1982–83. Bulletins 1–6 (August 1982–April 1983). Mimeographs. Santiago: Sindicato # 1 MADECO Archive.Google Scholar
El Crisol. 1992. Cuanto vale la demanda por gratificaciones. 10, 2 (November): 3–8.Google Scholar
El Crisol. 1995. Gratificaciones: esta vez hubo justicia. 13, 5 (May): 3–6. Santiago: Sindicato # 1 MADECO Archive.Google Scholar
Davis, Diane. 1999. The Power of Distance: Re-theorizing Social Movements in Latin America. Theory and Society 28: 585–638.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Oliveira, Orlandina, and Roberts, Bryan. 1996. Urban Development and Social Inequality in Latin America. In The Urban Transformation of the Developing World, ed. Gugler, Josef. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 253–302.Google Scholar
Drake, Paul. 1996. Labor Movements and Dictatorships: The Southern Cone in Comparative Perspective. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Durán Gonzalo, Gonzalo, and Kremerman, Marco. 2015. Sindicatos y negociación colectiva. Santiago: Fundación Sol. http://www.fundacionsol.cl/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/FundacipercentC3percentB3n-SOL-2015-NegociacipercentC3percentB3n-Colectiva.compressed.pdf. Accessed March 11, 2016.Google Scholar
Frank, Volker. 2004. Politics without Policy: the Failure of Social Concertation in Democratic Chile, 1990–2000. In Winn 2004. 71–124.Google Scholar
Franzosi, Roberto. 1995. The Puzzle of Strikes: Class and State Strategies in Postwar Italy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ffrench-Davis, Ricardo. 2002. Economic Reforms in Chile: From Dictatorship to Democracy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Herod, Andrew. 2001. Labor Geographies: Workers and the Landscapes of Capitalism. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Hibbs, Douglas A. Jr. 1978. On the Political Economy of Long-Run Trends in Strike Activity. British Journal of Political Science 8: 153–75.Google Scholar
Invexans. 2014. History. http://eng.invexans.cl/invexans/history. Accessed July 15, 2015.Google Scholar
Itzigsohn José, José, and Rebón, Julián. 2015. The Recuperation of Enterprises: Defending Workers' Lifeworld, Creating New Tools of Contention. Latin American Research Review 50, 4: 178–96.Google Scholar
Thomas Miller, Klubock. 2004. Class, Community and Neoliberalism in Chile: Copper Workers and the Labor Movement during the Military Dictatorship and the Restoration of Democracy. In Winn 2004. 209–60.Google Scholar
Korpi, Walter, and Shalev, Michael. 1979. Strikes, Industrial Relations and Class Conflict in Capitalist Societies. British Journal of Sociology 30, 2 (June): 164–87.Google Scholar
Loveman, Brian. 1988. Chile: The Legacy of Hispanic Capitalism. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Manufacturas de Cobre, S.A. (MADECO). 1960. Decima séptima memoria de MADECO. Santiago: MADECO.Google Scholar
Manufacturas de Cobre, S.A. (MADECO). 1965. Memoria anual. Santiago: MADECO.Google Scholar
Manufacturas de Cobre, S.A. (MADECO). 1982. Memoria anual. Santiago: MADECO.Google Scholar
Manufacturas de Cobre, S.A. (MADECO). 1994a. Don Aurelio Simonetti: un viaje hacia la historia de MADECO. MADECO 50 Años: desarrollando futuro. April. Santiago: MADECO.Google Scholar
Manufacturas de Cobre, S.A. (MADECO). 1994b. Memoria annual. Santiago: MADECO.Google Scholar
MADECO y subsidiarias. 2012. Estados financieros consolidados al 31 de diciembre de 2011. Santiago: MADECO. http://www.invexans.cl/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/madeco_02_estados_financieros_auditados_31_dic_2012.pdf. Accessed March 13, 2016.Google Scholar
Manky, Omar. 2016. From Towns to Hotels: Changes in Mining Accommodation Regimes and Their Effects on Labour Union Strategies. British Journal of Industrial Relations, August 30. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjir.12202/full Google Scholar
Martínez Javier, Javier and Díaz, Álvaro. 1996. Chile: The Great Transformation. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
El Mercurio (Santiago). 1983. Resguardo policial en Madeco. February 9: C2.Google Scholar
El Mercurio (Santiago). 1960a. Carabineros y obreros heridos en incidentes relacionados con el conflicto en Madeco y Mademsa. July 7: 15.Google Scholar
El Mercurio (Santiago). 1960b. Proceso militar por incidentes ocurridos entre carabineros y huelguistas de Madeco y Mademsa. July 8: 15.Google Scholar
El Mercurio (Santiago). 1960c. En forma total obreros de Madeco y Mademsa reanudarán sus labores, hoy a las 7 horas. July 12: 17.Google Scholar
Moran, Theodore. 1974. Multinational Corporations and the Politics of Dependence: Copper in Chile. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Nicholls, Walter. 2009. Place, Networks, Space: Theorising the Geographies of Social Movements. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 34, 1: 78–93.Google Scholar
Qué Pasa. 1993. La saga de los Luksic. Four-part series, October 9, 16, 23, 30.Google Scholar
Rhomberg, Chris, and López, Steven. 2016. Reconstituting Strike Theory. Paper presented at the 11th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, Seattle, August 20–23.Google Scholar
Robertson, Graeme B., and Teitelbaum, Emmanuel. 2011. Foreign Direct Investment, Regime Type, and Labor Protest in Developing Countries. American Journal of Political Science 55, 3: 665–77.Google Scholar
Sandoval, Salvador A.M. 1993. Social Change and Labor Unrest in Brazil Since 1945. Boulder: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Seidman, Gay W. 1994. Manufacturing Militance: Workers' Movements in Brazil and South Africa, 1970–1985. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sewell, William H. Jr. 2001. Space in Contentious Politics. In Silence and Voice in the Study of Contentious Politics, ed. Aminzade, Ronald, Goldstone, Jack, McAdam, Doug, Perry, Elizabeth, William Sewell, Sewell., Tarrow, Sidney, and Tilly, Charles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 51–88.Google Scholar
Shorter, Edward, and Tilly, Charles. 1974. Strikes in France, 1830–1968. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
El Siglo (Santiago). 1960. San Miguel marcha hoy sobre Santiago: en apoyo de los trabajadores de Madeco y Mademsa. June 20: 1.Google Scholar
El Siglo (Santiago). 1965. Realizando una obra grandiosa: Sindicato Madeco cumple 20 años. May 28: 10.Google Scholar
Silva, Eduardo. 1995. The Political Economy of Chile's Regime Transition: From Radical to “Pragmatic” Neo-Liberal Policies. In The Struggle for Democracy in Chile, ed. Drake, Paul W. and Jakšić, Iván. Revised ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 98–127.Google Scholar
Silver, Beverly J. 2003. Forces of Labor: Workers' Movements and Globalization Since 1870. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sindicato #1 MADECO. 1983. Comunicado de prensa 1. January 31. Santiago.Google Scholar
Sindicato #1 MADECO. 1993a. Acta de Asamblea. January 31. Santiago.Google Scholar
Sindicato #1 MADECO. 1993b. Acta de Asamblea. March 19. Santiago.Google Scholar
Smith, Neil. 1992. Contours of a Spatialized Politics: Homeless Vehicles and the Production of Geographical Scale. Social Text 33: 55–81.Google Scholar
Stallings, Barbara. 1978. Class Conflict and Economic Development in Chile, 1958–1973. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Stillerman, Joel. 1998. The Paradoxes of Power: the Unintended Consequences of Military Rule for Chilean Working-Class Mobilization. Political Power and Social Theory 12: 97–139.Google Scholar
Stillerman, Joel. 2003. Space, Strategies and Alliances in Mobilization: the 1960 Metalworkers' and Coal Miners' Strikes in Chile. Mobilization 8, 1: 65–85.Google Scholar
Stillerman, Joel. 2004. Disciplined Workers and Avid Consumers: Neoliberal Policy and the Transformation of Work and Identity among Chilean Metalworkers. In Winn 2004. 164–208.Google Scholar
La Tercera (Santiago). 1973. 26 “Tanquetas” construyó un agitador brasileño en Madeco. September 27: 5.Google Scholar
La Tercera (Santiago). 2013. Madeco anuncia fin de manufactura y comercialización de tubos de cobre. December 16. http://www.latercera.com/noticia/negocios/2013/12/655-556608-9-madeco-anuncia-fin-de-manufactura-y-comercializacion-de-tubos-de-cobre.shtml. Accessed July 13, 2015.Google Scholar
Tilly, Charles. 2000. Spaces of Contention. Mobilization: An International Journal 5, 2: 135–59.Google Scholar
Torres, Verónica. 2012. Punta Peuco II: Los cachureos del Guatón Romo. Santiago: Centro de Investigación Periodística (CIPER), April 19. http://ciperchile.cl/2012/04/19/punta-peuco-ii-los-cachureos-del-guaton-romo. Accessed January 4, 2016.Google Scholar
Las Últimas Noticias (Santiago). 1983a. Dirigentes de Madeco quieren hablar con Mardones. February 18: 10.Google Scholar
Las Últimas Noticias (Santiago). 1983b. Huelguistas de Madeco volverán con el piso. March 29: 9.Google Scholar
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Economic Research Service. 2013. Real Historical Gross Domestic Product (Gdp) and Growth Rates of Gdp for Baseline Countries/Regions (in billions of 2005 dollars), 1969–2014. www.ers.usda.gov. Accessed March 13, 2016.Google Scholar
Valenzuela, J. Samuel. 1976. The Chilean Labor Movement: The Institutionalization of Conflict. In Chile: Politics and Society, ed. Valenzuela, Arturo and Samuel Valenzuela, J.. New Brunswick: Transaction. 135–71.Google Scholar
Winn, Peter. 1994. A Worker's Nightmare: Taylorism and the 1962 Yarur Strike in Chile. Radical History Review 58: 4–34.Google Scholar
Winn, Peter. 2004. The Pinochet Era. In Winn 2004. 125–63.Google Scholar
Winn, Peter, ed. 2004. Victims of the Chilean Miracle: Workers and Neoliberalism in the Pinochet Era, 1973–2002. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Erik Olin, Wright. 2000. Working-class Power, Capitalist-class Interests, and Class Compromise. American Journal of Sociology 105, 4: 957–1002.Google Scholar