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| Ben Selwyn |
How do class relations contribute to
processes of capitalist development? Can workers’ struggles generate more
progressive forms of human development, in the form of improved working and
non-working conditions, rising pay and active social movements that bring
workers’ concerns to the fore? Within much thinking about development the
principal debate over the past 30 years or so has been between advocates of
state-led and market-led development. For these advocates either state
allocation and generation of resources or market-efficiency generates a growing
pot of social wealth which trickles down, at some indeterminate point in the
future, to the labouring population.
Advocates of these approaches often
support labour-repressive measures (ranging from opposition to minimum wages
and worker welfare to support for dictatorial regimes that outlaw trade unions,
raise the rate of exploitation and repress labour) as a means to kickstart the
‘development’ process of capital accumulation. From these perspectives capital
and the state come first and receive political priority, and labour comes a
distinct second, if at all.
Within
development studies, such perspectives have become so normalised that there is
rarely any comment on how they rest on a fundamental contradiction: Whilst development
practitioners aim to improve the lot of the poor, such labour-repressing
measures actually worsen their conditions for a considerable period of time and
offer no guarantee when (or if) they will improve. In part such perspectives
are supported by the assumption that labour represents just another interest
group in society that, if enabled to impose demands on either states or private
capital, will divert resources from the more important objectives of capital
accumulation and the accumulation of productive power by the state. But what if
it is the other way round? What if actions by workers contribute directly and
positively to the development process? If this is the case then development
studies would have to rethink its state and capital-centrism, and begin to
consider ways in which workers can shape progressively the development process.
Trade Unions in the São Fransciso
Valley
My research into capital-labour
relations in north east Brazil suggests that organised labour in poor regions
of the world constitutes a significant force in generating progressive
developmental processes and outcomes. The São Fransciso valley in the interior
of the Brazilian north east is home to a fast-expanding zone of export
horticulture. Thousands of hectares of irrigated land enable the production of
high quality grapes and mangoes for Northern markets. The valley is but one of
many cases of export horticulture production that have emerged across the
global South over the past three decades and that operate within
tightly-coordinated retailer-dominated global value chains. There are numerous
cases, for example in South Africa and Chile, where export horticulture is
characterised by domineering farms and precarious conditions for labour –
temporary contracts, low pay, limited union recognition or presence. Such
conditions are mirrored elsewhere in the global economy, in China’s industrial
zones in particular and in other regions of low-wage export manufacturing.
These conditions are so widespread that it is common to hear the
‘race-to-the-bottom’ thesis (which argues that any regulation of capital by
states or labour will push it elsewhere, thus forcing states into ‘light-touch’
or zero regulation of firms) repeated by friends and foes of labour alike.
In the São Fransciso valley, however,
the local rural workers’ union, the Sindicato dos Trabalhadores Rurais (STR),
has been able to mobilise the workforce in the export grape sector with
impressive results.[2] As
part of their competitive strategy Northern retailers have, since the 1990s,
been ramping up supplier requirements as part of what is often referred to as
the global retail revolution. Suppliers to Northern supermarkets need to
produce grapes according to strict size, shape, colour, weight, sugar-level
requirements, and must do so under increasingly regulated production process
codes, for example covering the methods and timing of herbicide application.
Meeting such standards requires farms to operate according to increasingly
complicated production methods. For example, in the São Fransciso valley,
export grape producers require over 30 operations per harvest cycle to meet
retailer standards, while producers selling onto ‘traditional’ (street) markets
within Brazil perform as few as 9 operations per harvest cycle. Operations
include detailed pruning of bunches and berries, applications of herbicides at
specified times, leaf and berry analysis, and the regulation of shoot and
branch growth. Exporting farms need to perform these operations efficiently and
on time otherwise they risk steep declines in fruit quality. For example,
berries that are not pruned may begin to rub against each other, creating
blemishes, becoming less attractive to customers and thus losing value. In
order to carry out these operations exporting farms rely on an increasingly
skilled and hard-working labour force. A large percentage of the valley’s
workforce is female.
Initially, working conditions in the
valley’s export grape sector were very poor, characterised by low, and often
ad-hoc pay, lack of employment security, and even the use of child labour.
However, in the mid-1990s, the STR began an ongoing campaign which has led to
very significant improvements in workers’ pay and conditions. At the heart of
STR’s strategy has been the threat, or actual use of strike action. As
mentioned above, in order to meet retailer demands exporting farms must
implement a strict and precise production calendar. Any delays reduce fruit
quality. This implies a strong reliance on dedicated and skilled labour input.
It also represents, for workers, a vital source of structural power, that is,
the ability to disrupt production through suspensions of work. Short strikes by
workers on exporting farms can have disastrous consequences for fruit quality
and hence its sale price. This structural power, which has been augmented by
rising retailer demands, has been realised through workers’ associational power
– their ability to organise through the STR. Early gains made by the STR
included commitments by farms to employ only registered workers, leading to
pension and other social security contributions, such as the rights for women
workers to take paid maternity leave, specified working hours, payment above
the minimum wage, higher pay for overtime, the provision of protective clothing
to workers, and the right for the STR to organise and visit workers on farms
during the working day. Subsequent gains have included the provision of crèche
care, safe transport to and from work, and the rights of workers to pursue an
education outside work, implying the need for workers to be able to leave the
farms on time.
Farms have not taken these victories by
the STR lying down. On the one hand they have tried to reduce non-wage costs
(such as their commitments to crèche care and maternity leave for women) by
restructuring the rural labour force and reducing their reliance on women
workers. On the other hand they have tried to reduce workers’ associational
power (the influence of the STR) by providing benefits to workers directly, such
as free or very cheap on-farm housing and some health care, as an attempt to
substitute themselves for the STR as workers’ principal benefactor. Such
counter moves by employers are to be expected and reflect an ongoing struggle
by employers and workers to shift the balance of class forces in their favour
respectively.
Trade Unions and the Struggle for Human
Development
Are there any broader conclusions that
can be drawn from this case study? Within development studies it is often
considered that progressive ‘policy’ must come from above – either from states
or from ‘socially responsible’ employers. Whilst such policies can, under
certain circumstances, contribute to meaningful improvements in the livelihoods
of workers in the global south, it is much rarer to hear development thinkers
and practitioners proclaim the need for workers’ collective action as a means
of achieving more equitable and meaningful human development. But in the case
of workers in the São Fransciso valley, meaningful improvements in their
livelihoods have been achieved through purposive collective action, spearheaded
by a progressive rural trade union.
This example suggests that
capital-labour relations and in particular the struggles by workers for better
pay and conditions constitute a central driver of the development process. In
countries such as South Africa and Chile employers across much of the export
agriculture sector have been able to impose a domineering labour regime upon
workers, with miserable consequences for the latters’ human development. In
north east Brazil, workers have been able to transform their structural power
into associational power and in doing so have achieved significant improvements
in their livelihoods. These dynamics, where capital strives to minimise its
costs through lowering labour costs, but where labour attempts to respond
collectively, are being played out across the global south, from the Chinese
industrial centres to the maquila zones of Mexico and beyond. The realisation
of workers’ structural power through organised associational power is the
struggle for human development.
1 Supporting evidence for the evidence
and interpretations of this column can be found in Selwyn (2007, 2010 and
2012)
Ben Selwyn is a Senior Lecturer in International
Relations and Development Studies at the University of Sussex in Brighton. He
writes about labour and development, and is currently working on a book
provisionally entitled ‘Capitalism vs Development: Critiques and Alternatives’.
References:
Selwyn, B. (2007) ‘Labour Process and Workers’ Bargaining Power in
Export Grape Production, North East Brazil’ Journal of Agrarian Change, 7 (4)
Selwyn, B. (2010) ‘Gender, Wage Work and Development in North East
Brazilian Export Horticulture’, Bulletin of Latin American Research, 29 (1)
Selwyn, B. (2012) Workers, State and Development in Brazil: Powers of
Labour, Chains of Value. Manchester, Manchester University Press.
If readers cannot get access to the articles cited in this column, they
can write to the author at b.selwyn@sussex.ac.uk
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