Research design

In chapter 1, I argued that the history of labour in Mexico illustrated a continual conflict between militant initiatives on the part of the rank and file and the desire by conservative union leaders and government officials to avoid strikes and ‘excessive’ wage increases. Control by the state over the union movement was, I argued, much more problematic than might be inferred from the ‘standard account’ of the history of Mexican labour. In the 1970s rank-and-file militancy increasingly took the form of breakaway movements from the official union confederations and the establishment of ‘independent’ unions. This development raised the question of whether such unions would be more radical than the official unions, and whether growth in the independent union sector would alter the existing role played by Mexican unionism in supporting political stability and economic growth. It was in the light of these general questions that the research presented in this book was designed. The most general aim of the research was to see whether there were, indeed, important differences in union behaviour between the independent and the official union sectors, and to consider further whether such difference might have implications for political realignments in Mexico.

With this in mind, a decision was taken to focus on the automobile industry. Given the presence of both types of union in that industry, and given the relatively homogeneous structure of the industry (this will be qualified later), it was felt that a study of the automobile industry would yield results which might, with certain qualifications, be generalized to other sectors of industry.