Research for this dissertation project has been based on 12 month of fieldwork conducted in  the Northern Gran Buenos Aires, Argentina. Fieldwork included in-depth interviews with formal and informal workers and participant observations of workers´ daily life and union activities. Fieldwork activities with formal workers included interviews and observations of workers in three different companies located in the city: a Meat Packing Plant, a Food Processing Plant and an Auto Manufacturer. Fieldwork activities with informal workers included interviews and observations with informal workers hired by these three companies, community residents of the surrounding areas and activists of community organizations.

The dissertation makes a contribution to sociological discussions of labor informality. Prevalent perspectives suggest that high informality blocks labor mobilization in Latin America because it leads to the structural fragmentation, cultural segregation and organizational isolation of the formal working class. Fieldwork evidence shows, on the contrary, that in some instances labor can develop solidarity links across the “informality border”. These links emerge in a context where companies are hiring both formal and informal workers and thus creating new structural links between these groups. These new structural links, together with pre-existing cultural and political orientations of workers shape unions´ organizational strategies that in some instances overcome the divide between formal and informal workers. The way unions challenge the divide will vary according to established factory regimes and the organizational logic of the union. Where there is a hegemonic regime combined with a bureaucratic union the strategy will be to legitimize the divide while at the same time asking for a salary raise or better conditions for informal workers. In companies where a despotic regime is challenged by a grassroots union, the divide will be challenged and the demands of salary raises or better conditions for informal workers will be combined with the request to end with informal work within the company. The main contribution of this research is thus, to challenge the old definition of informality and propose a more nuanced understanding of the interactions between social structure, cultural politics and organizational dynamics in the formation of labor protests.

In second place, this dissertation will contribute to answer a broader question: How can workers lead the struggle for social justice in a context of structural fragmentation? Fieldwork research provides evidence about different ways in which formal workers in Argentina are linking their demands to informal workers. These strategies avoid the harmful consequence that exclusive union strategies would have for the less privileged sectors of society. The discussion of this broader question has been developed by the CO-PI with grassroots union activists and workers. The CO-PI has taken part in meetings of civil society organizations in Argentina in which he talked about grassroots union strategies that are being developed to link formal and informal workers.  Grassroots activists have shown a lot of interest in learning how results from academic research can contribute to the development of grassroots democratic forms of organizations. CO-PI has also been a part time teacher for a class of 20 workers in the area. This was part of the activities of a civil society grassroots organization that provides free educational services to workers that did not finish high sch...

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