Doctoral Dissertation Research: Formal and Informal Workers and Labor Moblilization

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

SES-1003644 PI: Erik Wright Co-PI: Rodolfo Elbert Institution: University of Wisconsin at Madison The rising wave of protest involving unionized workers employed in the formal economy in Argentina (2003-2009) challenges the claim that formal workers cannot mobilize when there is high labor informality. What can account for this labor revitalization? This research develops a comparative case study of labor mobilization in two industrial cities (General Pacheco in Buenos Aires province and Puerto Tirol in Chaco province). The ethnography will be combined with the quantitative study of labor market dynamics, in order to understand the interactions between social structure, cultural politics and organizational dynamics in the formation of labor protests. Broader Impacts This study will deepen our knowledge about union possibilities to organize workers outside their traditional social base.