Product Overview
Implemented in the 1970s at the point of the bayonet and in the shadow of the torture chamber, the neoliberal policies of Augusto Pinochets dictatorship reversed many of the gains in wages, benefits, and working conditions that Chiles workers had won during decades of struggle and triggered a severe economic crisis. Later refined and softened, Pinochets neoliberal model began, finally, to promote economic growth in the mid-1980s, and it was maintained by the center-left governments that followed the restoration of democracy in 1990. Yet, despite significant increases in worker productivity, real wages stagnated, the expected restoration of labor rights faltered, and gaps in income distribution continued to widen. To shed light on this history and these ongoing problems, the contributors look at industries long part of the Chilean economyincluding textiles and copperand industries that have expanded more recentlyincluding fishing, forestry, and agriculture. They not only show how neoliberalism has affected Chiles labor force in general but also how it has damaged the environment and imposed special burdens on women. Painting a sobering picture of the two Chilesone increasingly rich, the other still mired in povertythese essays suggest that the Chilean miracle may not be as miraculous as it seems.
Contributors.
Paul Drake
Volker Frank
Thomas Klubock
Rachel Schurman
Joel Stillerman
Heidi Tinsman
Peter Winn