The Long History of Precarious Labor in Chile

• In Event: Invited Session - Precariedad Laboral & Organización Sindical

Abstract

Recent social-scientific literature on precarious labor focuses on the impact of recent trends in economic globalization, neoliberal restructuring, deindustrialization, and the rollback of unionization and outright repression of labor movements in some regions. Chile’s free-market “revolution” after 1973, under the direction of the Chicago boys, is often cited as a key model for or example of the radical changes introduced in economy and society by neoliberal reforms and accelerated economic globalization. In this paper, I draw on my research on forestry workers and the forestry sector in Chile, often cited as the shining example of the successes (for boosters) and failures (for critics) of Chile’s economic transformation after 1973, to explore the long history of precarious labor in rural Chile. While many social scientists have noted the extraordinarily precarious nature of labor and the decimation of the labor movement in the forestry sector, I argue that these have been the rule for more than a century and that non-precarious, or stable labor, linked to a robust union movement, actually constituted only a very brief moment in the history of rural labor in Chile. I demonstrate the ways in which free-market reforms, especially in terms of labor arrangements, drew on longstanding employer practices and traditions of both union busting and precarious labor tied to the employment of subcontractors. Indeed, while many social scientific have pointed to post-1973 reforms to outline the devastating impact of Chile’s free-market reforms on rural labor, I note that many of the labor systems that flourished after 1973 and that continue to dominate the forestry sector to this day, were prevalent during the 1930-1973 period (and before) as well. In addition, I argue that the state has played a major role in producing, reinforcing, and guaranteeing conditions of precarious labor today, and for over a century, in Chile

Author

• Thomas M Klubock, University of Virginia