The Dog That Didn't Bark: Labor Autonomy and Economic Adjustment in Nicaragua under the Sandinista and UNO Governments

Abstract

Organized labor's response to austerity is an important factor shaping the outcome of economic adjustment programs. Adjustment requires unequal degrees of sacrifice; labor and capital relinquish disruptive power in support of a project which the state must portray as transcending particular class interests. The implementation of economic reform is affected not only by regime type and the insulation of economic technocrats, but also by the potential for autonomous organization of class-based opposition.' Adjustment in effect calls for workers to accept an altered class compromise in pursuit of national economic goals and puts labor autonomy to the test.