Abstract
The article analyses and compares the labor movement action in Argentina and Brazil in the 2002-2014 period. In the first section we depict the economic, institutional, and political effects of the 1990s neoliberalism on the movement's action. In the second section we argue, first, that in the 2002-2014 period the labor movement was strengthened as an institutional actor and as representative of workers in bargaining its interests with the State and employers. Secondly, we suggest that the support of unionism was important for the governments of both the Workers Party (PT) in Brazil and the Kirchnerism in Argentina, albeit for different reasons. Thirdly, we show that in a new economic, social, and political context, important changes have taken place in the political alignments between union factions and in their relationship with their respective political systems. In the conclusion, we suggest perspectives for the future of the labor movement in the two countries, calling attention, among other things, to the risk of deeper oligarchyzation and bureaucratization of the two movements.
Keywords:
unionism; post-neoliberalism; working class; Argentina; Brazil