Subnational labor policy during post-convertibility in Santiago del Estero province (2005-2013)
Abstract
This article examines the reconfiguration of labor policy in Santiago del Estero between 2005 and 2013, focusing on two dimensions that have received limited integrated analy sis: labor conflict during the post-convertibility period and subnational labor policy. The case is particularly relevant because it reveals the convergence of national and provincial political processes that shaped labor policy transformation. The article argues that changes following the establishment of bargaining tables with trade unions (Mesas de Diálogo) were linked to two processes: the end of juarismo and the emergence of a new political phase under Gerardo Zamora, and the national government’s promotion of collective bar gaining at the subnational level. These processes fostered institutional mechanisms to channel and contain labor con flict. However, the dynamics of the Mesas de Diálogo and national wage policies, particularly guaranteed minimum wages, negatively affected the wage structure of provincial workers. The Paritaria Nacional Docente (PND) also in fluenced wage negotiations throughout the provincial public administration. Finally, although the creation of a negotia tion mechanism represented a departure from the previous period, the government’s approach toward confrontational trade unions retained certain features of the Juárez regime. Thus, the reconfiguration of labor policy combined insti tutional change with continuities in the management of labor conflict.
