In the twelve years covered by this study of labor unions in Mexico, Presidents José López Portillo and Miguel de la Madrid struggled with severe economic troubles and sharp declines in the credibility of political leadership. Raúl Trejo Delarbre contends that Mexico’s labor unions felt the brunt of both of these trends—perhaps with as much intensity in the destabilization of labor politics as in the falling value of workers’ paychecks.
Trejo Delarbre’s work is divided into three parts: an introductory essay that identifies the larger trends in the economy and labor organizations; a 320-page chronicle of disputes, union factionalization, and worker-employer confrontations; and a concluding chapter where the author presents a prescription for Mexico’s labor problems.
In the first part Trejo Delarbre analyzes why unions have fallen behind in bargaining power in recent years and concludes that the rapid rate of technological and structural change bestowed advantages on businesses, while lack of unity and ineffective leadership handicapped unions. In the second part he presents a compilation of labor activism by sector. The largest portion covers the vicissitudes of the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación and the rise of a more assertive rival from the grassroots of Chiapas and Oaxaca, the Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación. The rivalry between these two unions has been bitter and at times bloody. In the process, teachers have made few real gains. Other arenas covered include mining, the automotive industry, nuclear energy, textiles, and transportation, to mention only a sample.
Trejo Delarbre advocates a responsive and perhaps idealized version of corporatism to stimulate a revitalization of the labor movement. This “new corporatism” is to reflect broad social needs as opposed to Mexico’s traditional, essentially elitist corporatism. Trejo Delarbre’s prescription contrasts with Dan La Botz’s views in The Crisis of Mexican Labor (1988). La Botz advocates spontaneous labor activism that emerges from local labor organizations and rises to confront the extant political power structure and private sector management. Trejo Delarbre looks for a transformation of the corporate structures entwined within the government, the PRI, and large labor unions to accommodate Mexico’s rapidly shifting employment and social realities, whereas La Botz judges that changes originating within such organizations are unlikely to bring meaningful improvements for the underpaid and the unemployed. Even if one of these alternatives takes hold, the rapid growth of U.S.- and Japanese-owned maquiladoras with their poorly paid workers and Mexico’s lingering economic problems greatly complicate the possibility for a reinvigorated labor movement.
