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Explaining Confederation: Colombian Unions in the 1980s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2022

Fernando López-Alves*
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Barbara
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The formation of a “united front of all workers” has been a strategic goal for most labor leaders, but in reality, such coalitions have been more the exception than the rule. This kind of alliance requires workers in different sectors of the economy, who usually have dissimilar interests, to merge into a coordinating body, generally a new labor confederation. Therefore, regardless of whether they emerge in the core or on the periphery, confederations that aggregate the interests of the majority of organized workers have necessarily been preceded by fascinating processes of negotiations and mergers among unions. This study focuses on the formation of one such coalition in the Colombian labor movement.

Type
Research Reports and Notes
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

*

Fieldwork in Colombia was made possible by a PRA fellowship from the Organization of American States and a Distinguished Scholar Award from the University of California, Los Angeles. I am very grateful to a large number of labor activists, scholars, and colleagues who have offered a variety of data and suggestions. Those interviewed in the study contributed precious and long hours from their busy schedules. Colombian historians and labor historians Mauricio Archila, Alvaro Delgado, Fernán González, and Mauricio Romero also provided important information. Jonathan Rosenberg and Michael Wallerstein offered valuable suggestions, and I also wish to thank the LAR anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments and suggestions. The shortcomings that remain are my responsibility.

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