COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IN THE MEXICAN ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY*
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.1970.tb00571.x |
| Published date | 01 March 1970 |
| Date | 01 March 1970 |
| Author | Mark Thompson |
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IN THE
MEXICAN ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY*
MARK
THOMPSON?
OBSERVERS
of industrial relations long ago dismissed the concept
of
business
unionism, that
is,
the relatively conservative and economically-oriented
type of labour movement found in the
U.S.
and Canada,
as
irrelevant for
understanding Latin America labour relations. Robert
J.
Alexander, the
leading authority of Latin American unions, has repeatedly stated that the
North American model of unionism has not been replicated elsewhere in
the Western Hemisphere,’
and
other scholars are in agreement with him.
Instead unions in Latin America are characterized
as
politically oriented.
Perhaps as
a
consequence, research has concentrated on their political
activities.
The published literature
on
Mexico tends to confirm the generaliza-
tions made for the rest
of
Latin America. The Mexican labour movement
participated in the
1910
Revolution and subsequently became part of the
political power structure.
No
Mexican government since
1917
has been
openly hostile to organized labour, and there
has
not been a significant
anti-government faction
within
the labour movement in fifty years.
Consequently, it
is
alleged that labour’s
goals
are stated in political terms
after consultation with the g0vernment.l
If one accepts this analysis
of
Mexican unionism, then the role of
collective bargaining in the industrial relations system is unclear. Although
Alexander, among others, asserts that collective bargaining is well estab-
lished
in
Mexico,
no one has provided any explanation of the relevance
of
the institution to the politically-inspired labour m~vement.~
There is, however, a model of unionism, based
on
Selig Perlman’s
concept of
‘job
conscious’ unionism, which provides
a
theoretical construct
for analyzing collective bargaining in Mexico. The model, formulated by
Abraham Siegel, consists
of
eight ‘worker attitude and activity vectors’
affecting the nature of unions, At one end of each vector lies Perlman’s job
This
atudy
is
part
of
a broader research project
on
the development
of
Mexican unionism
carried
out in Maaco
in
1965-1966 and again
in
1967. The author wisha
to
thank
Richard
U.
Miller of the University of
Wiaconain,
and
A.
F.
Iahtcr,
McMaster University, for
their
am-
ments on earlier
drafts.
t
Amktant
proferror
of
Indmtrial Relations, School
of
Buainaa,
McMastcr University,
Hamilton,
Ontario,
Canada
For a dircuaaion of
this
quation
in
one of
hia
man recent
books,
see
Organizrd
Lobor
in
Latin
America,
The Fm
Prau,
New
York,
1965,
pp.
8-9
a
A
thorough
discussion of the early
history
of
the Mexican labour
movement
is
in Marjorie
Ruth Clark,
Orgm-wd
Lobor
in
Mexico,
University of
North
Caroliia
h,
Chapel Hill,
1934;
Howard F. Cline, Mexico
Revolution
to
Evolution,
Oxford University
h,
New
York,
1963,
pp.
222-8,
containa a
lab
interpretation.
Alexandery
3.
cit.,
p.
27
55
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