Labor Unions and Informal Workers’ Movements in Latin America

Catalog description

This course offers an overview of labor movements and organizations of informal workers in Latin America. It first analyzes the origins and evolution of labor institutions and labor movements in the region and examines existing explanations for their varying trajectories. Second, the course explores the emergence, organizational features, and collective action strategies of organizations and movements of informal workers, including low-income unemployed and rural workers. Some of these movements have emerged or acquired increasing political relevance in recent decades. The course reviews the challenges these groups face in acting together and helps us understand the circumstances under which they emerge and are able to influence state policy. Finally, the course examines when and how labor unions and organizations of informal workers build alliances to advance common interests and explores these alliances' political and social implications.