This book examines the most significant factors accounting for the decline of union density during the neoliberal period, focusing on the case of Mexico. Union density, which reflects the representation of labor unions in the employed labor force, is one of the main indicators of union strength. The relation of organized labor with the state and the political system are also considered. The analysis is framed within a structure concentrated on cyclical, structural and political-institutional factors linked to labor union performance. Over the last decades, the transformations brought about by neoliberalism and democratization reshaped many features of the domestic political and economic model in Mexico. Therefore, an examination of these developments regarding the repercussions of the factors linked to union density decline is crucial.

The purpose of this thesis is to assess the most significant factors accounting for the decline of trade union density during the period 1984-2006, specifically the case of Mexico. Union density, which reflects the representation of unions in the employed labour force, is taken as one of the main indicators of trade unions' strength. Other aspects are also considered, such as the relation of organised labour with the state and the political system. The analysis is framed within a structure concentrated on cyclical, structural and political-institutional factors linked to trade union performance. In the period studied, the transformations brought about by neoliberalism and democratisation reshaped many features of the domestic political and economic model. Thus, an examination of these developments, regarding the repercussions on the factors linked to union density decline, is crucial. The problem In the last quarter of the 20th century, trade unions around the world faced numerous difficulties in overcoming the challenges raised by economic and political transformations which reshaped the world of labour. For example, labour unions lost ground as major actors in the political and labour realms, compared with their privileged position over the post-war period. Similarly, union representation within the employed labour force has declined concurrently with the deterioration of real wages, fringe benefits, and social provisions. Collective labour contracts were dismantled during the f1exibilisation of labour. Furthermore, organised labour has seen its infl uence reduced in the political sphere, which has created an unfavourable outcome for workers. The collective bargaining power of labour unions before employers has also eroded because of the ease with which capital can relocate production. In sum, organised labour has seen its position reduced in various spheres and has faced a manifold crisis. Significant academic research has demonstrated the decline of trade unions in the last decades. In a wide study covering 92 countries, the International Labour Organisation ILO (1998) demonstrated that during the 1980s and 1990s the share of unionised workers with respect to the labour force diminished in most of the countries. According to this report, between 1985 and 1995 unionisation declined in 87 of 92 countries around the world. Furthermore, in only 14 of these countries were union density rates higher than 50% and in more than half, they were less than 20%. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development 0 ECD (1997,2004 and 2009) has also published numerous reports on the topic in which it can be seen that the expansion of union density in the employed labour force is the exception, not the rule, in the majority of the countries of this organisation. Although there is a consensus in academia that trade unions and workers have seen a detrimental panorama in recent decades, this is not the case regarding the factors explaining the regression of trade unions which appear divergent in each country and typically depend on national institutions, making necessary the study of individual cases. There are different explanations for union density decline. For instance, the advance of the production system; the implementation of technology in the workplace, which has reduced the number of employees; changes in employment composition; i.e., the decline of industry and the rise of services; the lack of identification with unions among new workers largely composed by the young and by females; the role of the state, employers and corporations, and especially the inefficiency of union leadership, among others. In addition, economic and social policies and the dismantling of corporatist structures are also considered in this regard. In view of that multiplicity of factors, it is crucial to establish those most relevant to the decline of labour union density. However, as can be seen, factors relating to the decline of unions are heterogeneous and merit proper classification as well as an explanation of their relevance in specific cases.

The advent of neoliberalism and globalization in modern Mexico caused a shift in the traditional labor discourse which had governed labor relations for most of the 20th century. In its place came a new economic model with higher demands for productivity and a more democratic labor sector. These changes contributed greatly to the deterioration of the Confederacion de Trabajadores Mexicanos (CTM), the largest labor confederation in Mexico for over sixty years.

Based on field research carried out in 1990-1991 in urban areas, with particular reference to maquiladoras enterprises along the US- Mexican border. Comprises an introduction by former US Secretary of Labour Ray Marshall advocating trade-linked labour standards.

A commanding survey of the world economy from 1950 to the present, from the author of the acclaimed The Boom and the Bubble.

Border Killers delves into how recent Mexican creators have reported, analyzed, distended, and refracted the increasingly violent world of neoliberal Mexico, especially its versions of masculinity. By looking to the insights of artists, writers, and filmmakers, Elizabeth Villalobos offers a path for making sense and critiquing very real border violence in contemporary Mexico. Villalobos focuses on representations of "border killers" in literature, film, and theater. The author develops a metaphor of "maquilization" to describe the mass-production of masculine violence as a result of neoliberalism. The author demonstrates that the killer is an interchangeable cog in a societal factory of violence whose work is to produce dead bodies. By turning to cultural narratives, Villalobos seeks to counter the sensationalistic and stereotyped media depictions of border residents as criminals. The cultural works she examines instead indict the Mexican state and the global economic system for producing agents of violence. Focusing on both Mexico's northern and southern borders, Border Killers uses Achille Mbembe's concept of necropolitics and various theories of masculinity to argue that contemporary Mexico is home to a form of necropolitical masculinity that has flourished in the neoliberal era and made the exercise of death both profitable and necessary for the functioning of Mexico's state-cartel-corporate governance matrix.