Between union and fragmentation of trade unionism in Argentina: the experience of the Frente Estatal Rionegrino (1994-1996)

Abstract

In the context of the crisis and the beginning of the state reforms in Río Negro, in the mid-nineties of the last century, an inter-union organization was formed that grouped together state workers' unions: the Frente Estatal Rionegrino (FER). The short duration of this provincial inter-union experience motivated our interest in investigating the causes of its emergence and dissolution and trying to contribute to the knowledge about the tendencies of unity and fragmentation of the syndicalism during the neoliberal transformations in Argentina. From a subnational perspective of political history, we seek to analyze how the process of transferring the Rio Negro’s pension system to the national State had an impact and what implication had in the actions and the (re) positioning of the state unions that motivated the dissolution of the FER. For this research we carried out an analysis of the content of the Río Negro newspaper (DRN), the oldest and most widely circulated newspaper in the North Patagonian region, and of the Official Gazette of the Province of Río Negro (BORN) and we deepened the investigation with a critical study of the oral testimony of provincial union leaders.