Labour Reforms in Latin America - Essay Example

This is indeed true for many Latin American nations that have a deficit of foreign capital and are under increasing pressure of going for market-driven reforms. Irrespective of the governmental constraints and the increasing opposition of the private sector, a favorable interaction of many variables like the labor-backed parties at home and the ties of the local trade unions to the foreign labor and human rights groups has pushed the state governments to opt for pro-labor reforms. It is primarily owing to the dependent variable which is the labor-backed local parties and the independent variable which is the foreign-based labor and human rights groups that the trade unions in Latin America have been able to wrest out favorable reforms.

The deregulation of economies and the immense pressure for free market reforms have proved to be very favorable for the trade unions in Latin American nations that have a history of labor mobilization and organization (Murillo & Schrank 974). Though the labor-backed parties in Latin America have been trying hard to break in into new constituencies, they could not afford to ignore the traditional support of the independent variables like organized labor that happen to be a ready source of support and vote.

Thereby the local labor-backed parties do make it a point to press the governments to opt for pro-labour union reforms because if they fail to do so, they fear losing the support of the organized labor in their constituencies that is historically organized and capable of shifting alliances if the need be. Argentina happens to be a typical example of a Latin American nation where the governments irrespective of being pro liberalization had to pass pro-labor union reforms under pressure from the local labor-backed parties (Murillo & Schrank 988).

In contrast to the Latin American nations which have a tradition of labor repression, the pro-labor reforms owe their origins to a different set of variables. These economies with enhanced liberalization have become increasingly export-dependent and it is the markets like the US where the goods produced by these nations find the customers. Being cost sensitive the governments in these nations are traditionally averse to labor reforms. However, the dependent variables like the labor unions in these nations have wrested reforms by aligning with a different independent variable that is the labor and human rights groups based abroad.