Abstract

RATTO, Nicolás; ARAVENA, Antonio  and  STECHER, Antonio. Union configuration in large retail companies in Chile: power resources, orientations for the action and forms of organization. Rev. colomb. soc. [online]. 2023, vol.46, n.2, pp.131-158.  Epub May 10, 2024. ISSN 0120-159X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rcs.v46n1/98673.

In this article we present the results of a research study that is framed within the debates on new forms of trade unionism in the service sector. Specifically, the study sought to analyze the predominant trade union configuration in the retail industry in Chile: large supermarkets, department stores, and home improvement shops. The analytical framework used was a formalization of Hyman's historical model of three trade union orientations (class, market, and social integration), articulated with the power resources approach and recognizing the frames of meaning and organizational forms that guide the mobilization of these resources. The methodological design contemplated the review of publicly available trade union administrative records and the qualitative content analysis of forty two individual and group interviews with national, regional and grassroots trade union leaders in three large cities in Chile. The results show that after decades of antiunion practices and co-optation of single unions by companies (1979-2000), a massive and conflictive union irruption took place in retail (2001-2009), that over the years moved towards an "independent market" trade unionism, characterized by a broad representation of workers in each company and establishment; for a "legalistic" trade union action that privileges the workplace and dialogue over conflict; by a weak articulation with other social and trade union actors outside the company; and by a limited and exceptional use of conflict, that is usually reduced to the legal strike. The research allows us to account for a common process in the retail industry, that until now had only been thematized as isolated experiences. The findings also contribute to problematize the idea that trade union revitalization in Chile in the last 15 years occurred mainly in the primary strategic sectors of the economy; to put into tension those theses that sustain the weakness and inoperability of the trade union actor in retail in neoliberal contexts; and to expand on the findings of other Latin American experiences, showing that trade union revitalization can occur autonomously, in the service sector and in an adverse political-institutional context.

Keywords : Chile; power resources; retail; strike; unions; union models.

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