Unexpected victories : protecting workers' rights in Guatemala's apparel-for-export sector

Abstract

This thesis examines three surprise victories for workers' rights in the Guatemalan garment sector. In the past three years, three unions have formed at the Choishin, Cimatextiles, and Nobland factories and each has negotiated a collective bargaining agreement. This thesis explores why these victories were possible given the general context of globalization and the economic and institutional context of Guatemala. I have proposed a model that describes the dynamic approach that allowed the unions to form and negotiate the only collective bargaining agreements in Guatemala's apparel-for-export sector. These unions were successful because cross-border union organizing, corporate codes of conduct, independent monitoring, and government enforcement were dynamically combined. This thesis also demonstrates how the new synthesized model accounts for differences across the three cases. These cases provide a series of Lessons for protecting workers' rights. But the most salient lesson from Guatemala is that, under certain conditions, victory for Labor rights is possible; it is possible to maintain garment sector employment while increasing respect for workers' rights. And if this sort of victory is possible in Guatemala, then it seems possible anywhere.