Author Description

Labour movements in Latin America are seen to play a crucial role in the life and politics of the respective countries, in ways difficult for outsiders to understand. This series aims to offer a comprehensive guide to the reality which has shaped these movements and which they shape in turn. It gives an analysis of some of the complex problems facing contemporary Latin American and individual Latin American countries. Based on original research by scholars in the field of labour studies drawn from Europe, Latin America and the United States and Oceania, the articles collected here illuminate the central role of the Latin American State in the day-to-day practice of collective bargaining and the conflicts which surround it. They provide an historical study of the social and political role of labour in societies still dominated by non-unionized workers and independent producers and of the impact of today's acute economic crisis on existing patterns of organization. They also tackle the issue of what forms of action are relevant to the difficult and often violent circumstances in which Latin American labour movements survive. Jean Carriere is also author of "Landowners and Politics in Chile" and editor of "Industrialisation and the State in Latin America".