Introduction

Abstract

This chapter situates Labor Politics in Latin America within the existing literature on labor markets and organization, presents its goals and methodology, justifies the selection of case studies, and outlines the analytical focus of subsequent chapters and their findings. The chapter offers a summary of the book’s principal findings and theoretical contributions to the study of labor market reform within Latin America. In this regard, the study’s comparative analysis provides little support for claims regarding the purported benefits of flexibilization, particularly with respect to its promise of employment generation and the reduction of inequality. Examination of the case studies also reveals that there exist multiple ways in which labor flexibilization can be imposed. Beyond de jure reforms of collective labor rights, the analysis reveals that flexibilization has often been achieved in ways other than legal reform of the labor code, for instance through negotiations of collective agreements at the plant level. Finally, the authors find that the imposition of flexibilization, whether de facto or de jure, has had a significant impact on labor organization and party-labor ties.