Reinterpreting outsourced mining trade unionism in Chile. A territorial Marxist perspective on subcontracting

ABSTRACT

In Chile’s neoliberalism, unlike what has been experienced in similar countries in the region, mining workers radically attacked the subcontracting regime in 2006-2007. With much accumulated empirical research, the workers’ social-spatial agency, however, has received little attention. This paper proposes a territorial Marxist approach about outsourcing to remedy this weakness. Looking to test this theory, the methodology consists of the reinterpretation of the ample evidence of the Chilean case and the focused original evidence. Two new and central socio-spatial findings are: i) workers organize in a territorial and multiscale manner to force negotiation with the client company; and ii) they use strategic “safe spaces” to confront the police, central to prevailing in the conflict. With this, I conclude that a radical territorial union strategy exists, which responds to contradictions maximized by natural resources, but which is relatively reproducible by workers in the urban structure.

strike; safe spaces; labor relations; political geography; union revitalization