The politics of telecommunications in Mexico : privatization and state-labour relations, 1982-95

The origins of this book are my research interests in the process of democratization in general and my particular fascination with the case of Mexico. I was especially interested to enquire how the political system in Mexico had managed to remain so stable in marked contrast to many other developing countries, including those in Latin America. My research started out as a DPhil candidate at St Antony's into one of the most important trade unions in Mexico during the 1980s and 1990s, the telephone workers' union. I wanted to analyse whether its project of representing a kind of 'new unionism' actually offered more union democracy and autonomy, and what consequences this might have for the stability of the political system and prospects for democracy. It was necessary to analyse the rise of this 'new unionism' movement within the context of the political, economic and social climate during the Salinas administration (1988-94) and, in particular, the privatization programme at the heart of which was the sale of Mexico's national telephone company, Teléfonos de México (TELMEX). In my analysis of the evolving relationship between the Mexican government and the telephone workers' union contrast is made with the experiences of other Mexican trade unions in the same period, such as the unions of petroleum workers, teachers, electricity workers, miners and so on. However, there were reasons which made the telephone workers' union a special case. The telecommunications industry is at the heart of a transformation towards an increasingly informationdependent age. The convergence of computer, telephone and audiovisual technology means that the telecommunications sector is undergoing dramatic structural change, making it one of the most dynamic industries, as well as one increasingly subject to international competition. Telecommunications played a crucial role in both the economic and political policies of the Mexican government after the 1982 debt crisis. The sale of TELMEX was by far the most important single instance of privatization executed by Salinas both in financial and strategic terms. I argue in this book that the rise of 'new unionism' in Mexico is inseparable from these developments. The complexity of the telecommunications sector, the difficulties in researching such a sensitive topic, the key role of telecommunications in economic policy ix and politics during this period, justify a study which concentrates almost solely on this sector, though some comparisons are drawn with telecommunications policy in other Latin American countries. The lack of detailed work on how Mexican trade unions operate from within -a gap which was pointed out by Roxborough more than a decade ago and which continues to exist -provides another important reason for analysing one sector in detail. This helps avoid generalizations about state-labour relations and the dynamics of organized labour within the political system. I would like to thank my supervisor, Alan Knight, for his guidance, sharp comments and careful reading of my work throughout the years that I was researching and writing this thesis at St Antony's. I am also grateful to Francisco Zapata at El Colegio de México for his help and support while I was conducting my fieldwork in Mexico from October 1994 to July 1995. I have also had many useful conversations and comments on various draft chapters of this work and must thank Daniel Díaz Fuentes, Privatization and policies of economic liberalisation were hailed by many critics as key factors which would help lead Mexico towards a process of deeper democratization at the beginning of the 1980s. This book demonstrates that privatisation generated new resources used for personal benefit and also to lubricate the state-labour relationship. Privatization and policies of economic liberalization were hailed by many critics as key factors which would help lead Mexico towards a process of deeper democratization at the beginning of the 1980s. This book challenges that claim. Using original research and empirical data for a major case-study, it demonstrates that privatization generated new resources which were used for personal benefit and also to lubricate existing relationships, in this particular case, that between the state and the union. It concludes that the cause of democratization was not furthered: indeed old corporatist relations were strengthened, having been oiled by corruption and privilege. The case-study at the heart of this book is the single most important monopoly privatization, which occurred during the Salinas administration (1988-94), and the realities of the so-called democratic 'new unionism' movement led by the telephone workers' union Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Introduction....Pages 1-7 Continuity and Rupture in the Mexican Political System....Pages 8-38 State-Labour Relations in Mexico: Opening up the Black Box....Pages 39-79 Neoliberal Economic Reform, Unions and the Anomaly of the STRM....Pages 80-115 The Politics of Industrial Restructuring and Privatization....Pages 116-143 Privatizing TELMEX and Crafting a ‘New Unionism’....Pages 144-171 Conclusions....Pages 172-177 Back Matter....Pages 178-277 This text argues that, instead of leading toward greater democratization, Mexico's policies of privatization in the 1980s were used for personal benefit, and to lubricate the existing state-labour relationship. It builds its case around the privatization of Mexico's telecommunications.