Unions against neoliberal reform: Argentina's first attempt under democracy

Abstract

After the military dictatorship (1976–1983), the neoliberal offensive in Argentina continued under the newly formed democracy. One of its expressions was the labour reform bills proposed by Alfonsín’s administration during 1986. Such reform mainly sought to limit unions’ right to strike and promote company-level bargaining. These elements added to the broader structural adjustment that had begun in 1985. Here, we analyze the characteristics of this reform and the way in which the government's discourse tried to make it compatible with the new democracy, and reconstruct the elements of the historical process, which led it to failure.