To Be a Worker: Identity and Politics in Peru (Latin America in Translation/En Traduccion/Em Traducao)

Annotation A contemporary classic in Peru, where it was first published in 1986, this book explores changes in the political identity and economic strategies of the Peruvian working class in the 1970s and 1980s. Jorge Parodi uses a case study of Metal Empresa, a large factory in Lima, to trace the surge and decline of the labor movement in Peruand in Latin America more generallythrough the successes and frustrations of the members of a once-powerful union as they coped with the nation's deteriorating economic situation. By the early 1970s, Metal Empresa was the site of one of the most radical and aggressive unions in Peruvian industry. But as the decade drew to a close, political and economic crises soured the environment for trade unionism and rendered unions less able to produce palpable benefits for their members. Through in-depth, often poignant interviews, including an extensive oral history of one of the workers, Jesus Zuniga, Parodi shows how workers desperate to support themselves and their families were increasingly forced to seek opportunities outside the industrial sector. In the process, he shows, they began to question their very identities as workers. Pt. I. A History About Workers, A Union, And Politics -- 1. Becoming A Factory Worker -- 2. Standing Up For Yourself As A Worker -- 3. Fighting For Benefits: The Limits Of The Clasista Union -- 4. Acting Like Workers -- 5. To Be A Worker Is Relative: Industry And The Limits To (re)producing Workers -- 6. Amid Frustrations Indignation, And Fear -- Pt. Ii. In His Own Words: The Many Lives Of Jesus Zuniga -- 7. Childhood: We'd Be Winners Someday -- 8. Lima: The Light Seemed Like Daylight -- 9. Everything Was Great When I Started At The Factory -- 10. Hard Workers And Shirkers -- 11. The Union: We Were No Longer What We Were Before -- 12. Deceived By The Company, But Hopeful In The Struggle -- 13. Jesus And Politics -- 14. If This Turns Out Ok, To Hell With The Company -- 15. Breaking Bread -- 16. Retirement: Political Disillusion, New Horizons -- 17. The Union Grauina: The President Is Also A Peruvian -- 18. Defending The Absent -- Pt. Iii. Conclusion -- 19. Unstable Processes, Radical Actions, Precarious Relationships, And Relative Identities -- 20. What Can You Hope For?: Jesus In The 1990s -- App. Selected Political Chronology Of Peru, 1968-1995. Jorge Parodi ; Translated By James Alstrum, Catherine Conaghan ; Edited, With An Introduction, By Catherine Conaghan. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 163-170) And Index. Translation Of: Ser Obrero Es Algo Relativo. An exploration of changes in the political identity and economic strategies of Peru's working class in the 1970s and 80s. It uses a case study of Metal Empresa, a large factory in Lima, to trace the rise and fall of the labour movement through the successes and frustrations of its union members