AbstractScholars interested in labour in Latin America have traditionally paid little attention to trade unions' legal mobilisation. However, the increasing number of legal complaints filed by workers with labour ministries and/or the courts in countries like Argentina, Brazil and Chile calls for a more serious debate on the role that trade unions play in this process. This article focuses on the Chilean case. Drawing on various sources, it shows that Chilean unions have turned legal complaints into a weapon to gain more rights and curb employers' power. This process has involved the strongest and most combative unions, and is due to two historical conditions: (1) the obstacles placed in the way of successful resort to more disruptive tactics; (2) the increase in institutional opportunities to report infringements of the law. Overall, the article challenges the current image of the Chilean unions by foregrounding their agency and their achievements over the last decade.
AbstractThis article analyses the effects of the pandemic on the work process at two digital delivery platforms operating in Argentina and Chile: Rappi and PedidosYa. Using semi‐structured interviews and an analysis of the press and websites, it looks at how the platforms have shifted the costs of the crisis to workers by leveraging the independent contractor status and tightening control. In response, the couriers have mounted various types of resistance, ranging from renting out or loaning accounts to organizing international strikes.
RésuméLes auteurs analysent les effets de la pandémie sur le processus de travail au sein de deux plateformes de livraison alimentaire opérant en Argentine et au Chili, Rappi et PedidosYa. En s'appuyant sur des entretiens semi‐directifs et une analyse du discours de la presse et des sites Internet, ils montrent que les plateformes ont transféré les coûts induits par la crise sur les travailleurs en instru‐mentalisant le statut de travailleur indépendant et en renforçant leur contrôle. En réaction, les livreurs ont eu recours à de multiples stratégies de résistance, qui vont de la location ou du prêt de comptes à l'organisation de grèves internationales.
ResumenSe analizan los efectos de la pandemia en el proceso de trabajo en dos plataformas digitales de reparto que operan en Argentina y Chile: Rappi y PedidosYa. A partir de entrevistas semiestructuradas y análisis de prensa y páginas web, se constata cómo las plataformas han descargado sobre las trabajadoras y trabajadores los costos de la crisis a través del uso instrumental de la figura del contratista independiente y la intensificación del control. Los repartidores han reaccionado a esta situación a través de múltiples formas de resistencia que van desde el arriendo o préstamo de cuentas a la organización de paros internacionales.
Business schools are important agents in the cultural circuit of capitalism, but little is known about how they have played this role in countries like Chile. Research carried out in four Chilean business schools shows that they have contributed to the perpetuation of the labor relations model imposed after the neoliberal reforms in at least two ways: by circulating knowledge that makes the collective dimension of labor relations invisible and by declining to modify the attitudes of the student body toward labor relations management. Las escuelas de negocios son agentes importantes en el circuito cultural del capitalismo, pero poco se sabe sobre cómo han jugado su papel en países como Chile. Una investigación llevada a cabo en cuatro escuelas de negocios chilenas muestra que han contribuido a la perpetuación del modelo de relaciones laborales impuesto después de las reformas neoliberales en al menos dos maneras: circulando el conocimiento que invisibiliza la dimensión colectiva de las relaciones laborales y negándose a modificar las actitudes del cuerpo estudiantil hacia la gestión de las relaciones laborales.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss why and how the notion of sustainability has been integrated to the practices of HRM in Chile. Especially, it examines how the union‒management relationship shapes and is shaped by the adoption of a sustainable approach. By doing so, it contributes to a broader debate about HRM in Latin America.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on a case study conducted between 2016 and 2018 in two large companies. In each of these companies, besides the analysis of internal and administrative documentation, human resource managers, line managers and union officers were interviewed.FindingsIn this paper, two main findings are discussed. First, the sustainable HRM idea installed in Chile has not involved a total renunciation of some old ideological frames, but rather an adjustment of these. The old paternalist managerialism is shaping a path to a new HRM model, willing to yield part of its control to workers, but not less unitarist in its foundations. Second, the sustainable HRM concept adoption by the studied companies is not primarily motivated by economic goals as it may have occurred in other contexts, but by the need of a solution to labour conflicts in a context of union action renewal.Practical implicationsThis research could be used to teach about leadership, strategy and sustainability, highlighting the importance of understanding the contested nature of the employment relations within these processes of changing. To accomplish this, HR practitioners need to get more involved with pluralistic perspectives in labour relations and thus achieve effective sustainable practices in the workplace. It is also relevant that unions recognise and strengthen their ability to influence these policies.Originality/valueThis paper sheds lights on how the concept of sustainable HRM has been introduced in Latin America, which has been slightly discussed in mainstream scientific literature. It also provides empirical evidence about unexplored and recent changes in HRM and proposes new perspectives for the study of this topic in the region, considering variables as the managerial ideologies, current labour disputes and the relevance of trade union voice.
Le coup d'État de 1973 a marqué une véritable rupture dans toutes les sphères de la vie sociale au Chili. Afin d'éviter les conflits, les autorités ont voulu imposer aux nouvelles générations l'indifférence par rapport à cet événement, en soulignant plutôt les possibilités que leur offre le présent. Pourtant, sous certaines conditions, les jeunes parviennent à se confronter à ce « régime de mémoire héritée ». S'intéressant aux syndicats et organisations de « pobladores », cet article veut analyser la manière dont l'engagement dans l'action collective amène les nouveaux militants à réinterpréter le passé collectif et, dans le même mouvement, à transformer leur rapport à la politique. Comme nous le montrerons, les conclusions de ce processus ne sont fondées sur aucune téléologie définie à l'avance.
The coup in 1973 breaks social life in Chile. To avoid conflict, a voluntary indifference to the event has gradually taken hold of new generations. However, some processes lead young people to confront this «inherited memory» encouraging the emergence of alternative memories. This is the case of young trade unionists and «pobladores» we studied. We will show how their engagement in collective action triggers a process of collective past remembering and transform their relationship to politics. The conclusions of this process cannot be defined a priori. ; Le coup d'État de 1973 a marqué une véritable rupture dans toutes les sphères de la vie sociale au Chili. Afin d'éviter les conflits, les autorités ont voulu imposer aux nouvelles générations l'indifférence par rapport à cet événement, en soulignant plutôt les possibilités que leur offre le présent. Pourtant, sous certaines conditions, les jeunes parviennent à se confronter à ce «régime demémoire héritée». S'intéressant aux syndicats et organisations de «pobladores», cet article veut analyser la manière dont l'engagement dans l'action collective amène les nouveaux militants à réinterpréter le passé collectif et, dans le même mouvement, à transformer leur rapport à la politique. Comme nous le montrerons, les conclusions de ce processus ne sont fondées sur aucune téléologie définie à l'avance.
PurposeThe article explains why some Chilean companies have implemented a partnership strategy with trade unions, in a national context broadly described as unfavorable to such approach. Moreover, it discusses the shape and limits of this strategy.Design/methodology/approachThe argument draws on a case study conducted between 2016 and 2018 in three large companies. Human resources managers, line managers and union officers were interviewed in each of these companies, and internal and administrative documentation were analyzed.FindingsThe article demonstrates that the management's partnership strategy in the studied companies has emerged to contain the union revitalization. Additionally, it suggests this strategy has not favored trust-based relationships that guarantee long-term mutual gains for employees and companies. The article identifies some factors that explain this situation: the regulation, the economic uncertainty and the absence of a pluralist management perspective.Originality/valueThe article has the value of providing empirical evidence on union–management partnership, a topic that has gained strategic importance for large Chilean companies but remains unexplored in the mainstream the human resources management literature. The article also contributes to underscore the theoretical relevance of political and cultural variables in explaining management strategies and their results.
Labour process approaches have extensively documented the impact of digitalisation and remote work on managerial control, though the role of managers has been less explored. This article fills that gap in the extant literature by examining how adopting remote work affects managerial compliance with corporate goals. Particularly, it shows that this development entails a process of de-institutionalisation and re-institutionalisation of the control regime operating over lower-level managers to act on behalf of companies. These processes are driven by corporate decisions but also by the managers' attempts to negotiate this regime. Overall, the article claims the need to study managers as agents rather than as a mere extension of the management function or passive subjects of corporate restructurings. The arguments are based on a study conducted in a multinational mining company operating in Chile, which adopted a research-in-action approach and included interviews, document reviews and a survey of line managers.
In Latin America there are few countries with a legal framework that regulates collective bargaining in the public sector. However, most of these countries have strong public workers' organizations that negotiate a wide range of issues with the authorities. Despite its impact on public budget, information lack on the extent and the characteristics of these collective bargaining practices. This paper analyses the Chilean case to contribute to fill this blank. Based on a census of the public services in the Central Administration carried out in 2016 (ENCLACE), it examines the dynamics of collective bargaining in this sector. The article demonstrates that the lack of regulation has not been an obstacle to the development of the negotiation between public workers' associations and the authorities. In the absence of clear rules to settle how, when, and what is possible to negotiate, public workers' associations have been able to use their strength to create relatively stable spaces for participation that far exceed those legally guaranteed for workers in the private sector companies. The document proposes some elements to explain this situation and underscores that at least in the Chilean case regulation is not the best criterion for evaluating the development of labor relations in the public sector or the differences between workers in this sector and those of the private sector.
En los últimos años, las protestas de repartidores/as de plataformas digitales se han multiplicado en el mundo. Sin embargo, los estudios que expliquen la evolución desigual de estas movilizaciones en distintos contextos nacionales aún son escasos. Este artículo compara la actividad de protesta de repartidores/as de plataformas en Argentina y Chile entre 2018 y 2023. Sostiene que el argumento centrado en las condiciones de trabajo o las decisiones estratégicas de las organizaciones de trabajadores, propuesto para analizar la emergencia de la acción colectiva en este sector económico, es insuficiente por sí solo para explicar las diferencias encontradas entre ambos países. El examen del sistema de relaciones industriales es importante para entender las decisiones de estos/as trabajadores/as y sus organizaciones respecto a la continuidad de la movilización después de la pandemia de COVID-19.
