Third Way Labor Law Reform in Chile

Latin America is currently undergoing Karl Polanyi's "double movement" at full swing, as most governments of the region are currently experimenting with policies that defy the neoliberal orthodoxy that has been reigning there for almost three decades. One of such governments has been the center-left Concertación governments of Chile, which have been elected since the restoration of democracy in 1990. In addition to poverty alleviation programs, Concertación has been in an ongoing process of reforming the country's labor laws, attempting to restore some of the labor rights existing prior to the 1973 coup, as well as creating new rights and institutions. The labor inspectorate has been strengthened and reformed under the framework of "Latin" systems of labor inspections, which are pedagogical rather than punitive in orientation. Labor courts are also being radically bolstered, providing workers with a renewed legal avenue to enforce their rights. Although the reforms fall short of full restoration of trade union rights, namely national collective bargaining, they do point to a clear break with the "stateless" regulatory, neoliberal model that Chile was once associated with and provide symbolic and intellectual fodder for further reforms in the country and beyond. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript