Abstract
This chapter examines labor militancy in the automotive industry in Mexico. Over the past decade, Mexico has risen as one of the largest global car manufacturers. Nevertheless, wages continue to plummet, setting Mexican salaries among the five lowest in the world. At the center of this increasing disparity, unions play a significant role colluding with companies and the government to control labor demands through corruption and illegal means. Despite fierce repression, workers organize clandestinely to resist precarious working conditions, building international solidarity and engaging in spontaneous labor strikes.This chapter is based on three years of ethnographic research. It looks at the recent wave of wildcat strikes that reveals an emerging pattern of collective action and labor organizing. The automotive sector is traditionally considered emblematic of stable and unionized jobs. However, this study shows how labor responds to the radical precarization of working conditions, by developing crossborder ties and carrying out independent work stoppages.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Sectoral extension agreements where contract terms in union workplaces are extended by government decree across a firm type in a given locality or sectoral bargaining models where labor councils bargain with employers associations or representative firms and the terms are imposed across the sector. These models have been used in different jurisdictions in Canada are still on the books in Quebec. Sectoral bargaining is still prevalent in the construction sector in Canada, where it was imposed by government to protect weak firms against strong unions.
- 2.
See footnote 1.
References
Anner, M. (2011). Solidarity Transformed. Labor Responses to Globalization and Crisis in Latin America. Ithaca NY: Coronell University Press.
Atzeni, M. (2016). Capitalism, workers organising and the shifting meanings of workplace democracy. Labor History. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303036290. July 17, 2017.
Bouzas O. J. A. (2009). Contratación Colectiva de Protección. Revista Latinoamericana de Derecho Social. Nº9, DF: UNAM, pp. 29–52.
Carrilo, J. (2015). “La Importancia de Las Empresas Automotrices Globales En México.” Presentado en Seminario Internacional “Los Sindicatos ante las estrategias de las empresas automotrices”. México, D.F.: IndustriALL Global Union/Fundación Friedrich Herbert.
Covarrubia, A. (1993). La Flexibilidad Laboral en Sonora. México: COLSON/Fundación Friedrich Herbert.
Darlington, R. (2014). The rank and files and the trade union bureaucracy. International Socialism, 142, 57–82.
De La Garza, T. E. (2000). Democracía, Representatividad y Legitimidad Sindical. México DF: UAM.
De La Garza, T. E. (2002). Reorganización del Trabajo: Subjetividad y Resistencia. http://sgpwe.izt.uam.mx/pages/egt/congresos/9TrabajoFrag.pdf. July 4, 2015.
De La Garza, T. E. (2006). La Sociología del Trabajo en México. Balances y Perspectivas. México D.F.: UAM http://sgpwe.izt.uam.mx/pages/egt/publicaciones/articulos/la%20sociologia%20del%20trabajo.pdf. March 17, 2016.
De La Garza, T. E. (2013). Alternativas al Modelo Maquilador. México DF: IIJ-UNAM—IDIC. http://biblio.juridicas.unam.mx/libros/7/3371/21.pdf. March 17, 2016.
De Los Santos Gómez, S., & Beltrán Rentería, J. Á. (2014) Articulación Institucional para el Desarrollo Competitivo: El Caso del Cluster de Coahuila. In L. Medin Álvarez, J. Carrillo, & M. L. González Marín (Coord.), El Auge de la Industria Automotriz en México en el Siglo XXI. Reestructuración y Catching Up (pp. 191–202).
Fairbrother, P. (2008). Social movement unionism or trade unions as a social movement. Employ Response Right, 20, 213–220.
Gambrill, M. C. (1989). Sindicalismo en las Maquiladoras de Tijuana: regresión en las Prestaciones Sociales. In J. Carrillo (Coord.) Reestructuración Industrial. Maquiladoras en la Frontera con Estados Unidos. México, D.F.: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes.
Gramsci, A. (1919). Sindicati e Consigli. en L’OrdineNuovo.
Hyman, R. (1979). The politics of trade workplace unionism: Recent tendencies and some problems for theory. En Capital & Class, 8, 54–57.
Hyman, R. (2011). Will the Real Richard Hyman Please stand up? En Capital &Class, 31–56, 151–164.
Lipset, S. M. (1953). Union democracy. The internal politics of the international typographical union. New York: The Free Press.
Luxemburg, R. (1986). The mass strike, the political party and the trade unions. Bookmarks, In R. Darlington (2014), The rank and files and the trade union bureaucracy. International Socialism, 142.
Marinaro, P. (2016). Nuestra Lucha es en Contra del Sindicato. Una Etnografía del Antagonismo Obrero al Sindicalismo de Protección Patronal en México. El Caso de la Industria Automotriz. En Revista de Estudios Marítimos y Sociales. Año 9, N. 10, Mar del Plata.
Marinaro, P. (2017). El Sindicato ní Sabíamos que Existía. Una Etnografía del Sindicalismo en la Industria Automotriz en México. In Progress.
Modonesi, M. (2014). Subalternidad, Antagonismo, Autonomía, Marxismo y Subjetivación Política. Buenos Aires: CLACSO; Prometeo Libros.
Modonesi, M. (2016). El Principio Antagonista. Marxismo y Acción Política. México DF: ITACA UNAM.
Moreno-Codina, T. (2015). Plan Maestro del Corredor Logístico Industrial Automotriz del Bajío. Quivera (Vol. 17, No. 1). Estado de México: UAEM. http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=40140031002. May 23, 2017).
Ness, I. (2015). Southern insurgency. The Coming of the global working class. London: Pluto Press.
Quintero, R. C. (Coord.). (1989). Reestructuración Industrial. Maquiladoras en la Frontera con Estados Unidos. México, D.F.: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes.
Quintero, R. C. (Coord.). (2006). El Sindicalismo en las Maquiladoras. La Persistencia de lo Local en La Globalización” Desacatos, 21, 11–28.
Quintero, R. C. (Coord.). (2015). Cinco Décadas de Empleo Maquilador: De Fuente Laboral Femenína a Empleo Regional. Presentado en Congreso Medio Siglo de Maquiladora: ¿Qué nos ha dejado, hacia donde vamos?, Matamoros: COLEF.
Secretaría de Economía, 3er Informe de Labores. (2014–2015). http://www.economia.gob.mxe/files/informe_se/informe_labores_SE_2014-2015.pdf. (17/03/2016).
Silver, B. (2003). Forces of labor. Worker’s movement and globalization since 1870. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Marinaro, P. (2018). “We Fight Against the Union!”: An Ethnography of Labor Relations in the Automotive Industry in Mexico. In: Atzeni, M., Ness, I. (eds) Global Perspectives on Workers' and Labour Organizations. Work, Organization, and Employment. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7883-5_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7883-5_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-7882-8
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-7883-5
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)