Trade union strategies in two fragmented large companies and Coca-Cola affiliates in Chile

Abstract

The article analyzes the trade union strategies by means of which the peons contracted by two large companies in the distribution sector of the beverages industry in Chile try to overcome the structural limitations of their work processes and their employment conditions. For this, were synthesized two qualitative researches based on participant observation for three years (2014-2016) with the Federation that brings together the workers peons of both companies (FENASIPEC). Drawing on the theories of labor processes, the networked company and the approach on power resources, it is concluded that one of the main strengths of the unionism of the Coca-Cola peons is in its associative power, particularly in the “militant nucleus” of FENASIPEC, which will play a key role in the creation and articulation of the different regional unions of peons. Likewise, they successfully mobilized their structural power “in the place of distribution” of Coca-Cola merchandise with a national paralysis of more than ten days in the context of the completion of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.