NACLA Update: Neoliberal Policies Wreak Havoc in Mexico

Immigrant Labor, Immigrant Rights

David Bacon

Outside the Washington beltway, a loose network of groups has grown that has generally opposed most "comprehensive immigration reform" bills and their provisions, and that has organized movements on the ground to oppose increased enforcement and repression directed against immigrant communities.

The Buenos Aires Subway Strike: A Window on Post-Collapse Labor Politics

Rene Rojas

Not all is harmonious between unions and the Argentine state, as demonstrated by a surprisingly fierce subway strike in August 2012. Offering a glimpse into labor-state relations, the strike’s key features shed light on the prospects for sustaining and deepening the 'Modelo K.'

Mexican Workers in the Continental Crucible 

Richard Roman and Edur Velasco 

By incorporating low-wage, low-rights Mexico into the continental production system, a process that was well under way before NAFTA, big business sought both to discourage labor militancy as well as to harmonize labor costs downward in Canada, the United States, and in the older industrialized and unionized regions of Mexico. NAFTA “constitutionalized” these transformations by treaty. 

Mexico’s Labor Reform: A Workers’ Defeat—For Now

Robin Alexander and Dan LaBotz

Mexico recently passed a labor law that will make jobs less secure by, among other things, permitting greater outsourcing as well as temporary and part-time work. The law is the result of 40 years of struggle among political parties, rival unions, employers, and workers.