Transnational trade union coalition: Evidence from Chile and Peru

This communication seeks to understand the dynamics of cross-border union coalitions through a Southern perspective. It pursues three objectives: first, to document the process through which workplace trade unions developed a coalition in an under-institutionalized context; second, to notify the way they framed this coalition, and identified themselves to it; third, to report the conditions that helped them to foster sustained relationships on a transnational basis. This case study appears interesting since the coalition was mainly set off, and developed through the initiative of local trade unions, in other words, from below. By local actors we refer to workplace representatives and staff from industrial unions that support and coordinate action at plant level. In such a context, we consider that actors need to be creative, and must develop new capabilities, particularly when the coalition involves actors with heterogeneous and asymmetric resources.

We put then much emphasis on the dynamics of cross-border relationships, in particular on the interactions between actors, the way they framed transnational solidarity and adhered to it, as well as on the tensions that shaped the evolution of the coalition. Drawing on previous research, we expect that this dynamic of cross-border coalitions will be shaped, on one hand, by the identity of the actors involved in the whole process. On the other, resources (financial, informational, logistical, technical, etc.) that can be mobilized and the context in which the coalition develops are also to be strongly considered.

The first part describes the research method and the case study per se. The second depicts a chronological account of the action undertaken by unions to build the coalition. The third highlights the challenges related to the process of framing transnational solidarity, with a special focus on the South. The conclusion points out to the conditions fostering sustained transnational unionism from below.