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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Chile
Index
The votive temple of Maipú, also know as the church of Our
Lady Carmen, patroness of Chile
Courtesy David Shelton
Chileans have a remarkable facility for forming
organizations
and associations. This propensity perhaps has something to
do with
the fact that for more than three centuries both the
Spanish-Chilean and the indigenous components of the
country led a
precarious life of conflict with each other, a situation
that
forced people to rely more than usual on collective
organizing,
especially, as was the case for both sides, given the
weakness of
the state. In contrast to North Americans, however,
Chileans
usually take a formal approach to creating organizations.
In
addition to electing a president, a treasurer, a
secretary, and
perhaps a few officers, they prefer to discuss and approve
a
statement of purpose and some statutes. This is a ritual
even for
organizations that need not register legally, obtaining
what is
called a "juridical personality" that will enable them to
open bank
accounts and to buy and sell properties. It is not known
for
certain where and how this formalism originated; it
perhaps could
be traced back to the densely legalistic approach adopted
by Spain
toward the governance of its faraway colonies and to the
legalism
of Roman Catholic canonical law, which applied to many
aspects of
society. Whatever grain of truth there is to these
speculations,
observers of Chilean society are rapidly struck by the
density of
its organizational life and the relatively high degree of
continuity of its organizations and associations
(see The
Church, Business, Labor, and the Media
, ch. 4).
In any Chilean community of appreciable size can be
found
sports clubs, mothers' clubs, neighborhood associations,
parent
centers linked to schools, church-related organizations,
youth
groups, and cultural clubs, as well as Masonic lodges and
Rotary
and Lions' clubs. Virtually all of the nation's fire
fighters are
volunteers, with the exception of members of a few fire
departments
in the largest cities. Government statistics greatly
understate the
number of community organizations because they refer
mainly to
those having some contact with one or another state
office.
According to the official estimate for 1991, there were
about
22,000 such organizations, the main ones being sports
clubs
(6,939), neighborhood councils (6,289), mothers' clubs
(4,243), and
parent centers (1,362). Government publications do not
report
membership figures for these organizations.
Most of the important urban areas in Chile also include
a broad
sample of the local chapters of a wide variety of
occupational
associations. These include labor unions and federations,
public
employee and health worker organizations, business and
employers'
associations, and professional societies of teachers,
lawyers,
doctors, engineers, dentists, nurses, social workers, and
other
occupational groups. Membership in labor unions, which
declined
significantly under the military government, has been
growing
rapidly since the late 1980s, a change directly related to
the
transition to democracy. Affiliation with organizations
recognized
as unions in labor legislation was officially estimated in
1990 at
606,800, a 20 percent increase over 1989. That figure did
not
include individuals affiliated with public employee
associations
(including health workers), who were estimated to number
about
140,000, nor the members of the primary and secondary
teachers'
association, who numbered about 105,000. But these two
groups
usually have been closely tied to the labor movement
through the
national confederations of labor. Thus, about 19 percent
of a total
labor force of 4,459,600 was linked to unions or
union-like
associations in 1990. With the continuing increases in
union
affiliations, which are especially significant in rural
areas, a
conservative estimate is that the unionized population (in
legal as
well as de facto organizations) stood in 1992 at between
22 percent
and 24 percent of the labor force. The most important
union
confederation, which encompasses the great majority of the
nation's
unions and union-like organizations, is the United Labor
Federation
(Central Única de Trabajadores--CUT). CUT is the heir to
a line of
top labor confederations that can be traced back through
various
reorganizations and name changes to at least 1936, and
perhaps to
1917
(see Unions and
Labor Conflicts
, ch. 3;
Labor
, ch.
4).
There are numerous business and employer associations
in Chile.
Their total membership is about 190,000, although they
collectively
claim to speak for about 540,000 proprietors of businesses
of all
sizes. The most important business organization, the
Business and
Production Confederation (Confederación de la Producción y
del
Comercio--Coproco), encompasses some of the very oldest
ongoing
associations in Chile: the National Agricultural
Association
(Sociedad Nacional de Agricultura--SNA), founded in 1838,
groups
the most important agricultural enterprises; the Central
Chamber of
Commerce (Cámara Central de Comercio), founded in 1858,
includes
large wholesale and retail commercial enterprises; the
National
Association of Mining (Sociedad Nacional de Minería),
founded in
1883, affiliates the main private mining companies; the
Industrial
Development Association (Sociedad de Fomento
Fabril--Sofofa),
founded in 1883, organizes the principal manufacturing
industries;
the Association of Banks and Financial Institutions
(Asociación de
Bancos e Instituciones Financieras), founded in 1943, is
the main
banking-industry group; and the Chilean Construction Board
(Cámara
Chilena de la Construcción), founded in 1951, organizes
construction companies.
Another important confederation of business groups is
the
Council of Production, Transport, and Commerce (Consejo de
Producción, Transporte y Comercio). In contrast to
Coproco, this
organization groups primarily medium-sized to small
businesses,
including many self-employed individuals who do not hire
nonfamily
members on a regular basis. Its main components are the
120,000-
member Trade Union Confederation of Business Retailers and
Small
Industry of Chile (Confederación Gremial del Comercio
Detallista y
de la Pequeña Industria de Chile), founded in 1938, and
the 24,000-
member Confederation of Truck Owners of Chile
(Confederación de
Dueños de Camiones de Chile), founded in 1953.
Professional societies are also well established. The
largest
ones, aside from the teachers' organization noted
previously, are
those for lawyers (about 12,000 members), physicians
(about
14,500), and engineers (about 11,500). Affiliation figures
for most
of the more than thirty professional societies were
unavailable,
but there are at least 100,000 members in such
associations aside
from teachers. If these figures are added to those for
membership
in business groups and unions, it appears that about a
third of the
labor force is involved in occupationally based
associations.
The organized groups of Chilean society have long
played an
important role in the nation's political life. The
elections in
some of them--for example, in major labor federations,
among
university students, or in the principal professional
societies--
usually have been examined carefully for clues to the
strength of
the various national political parties. Most of the
nation's
university and professional institute students, totaling
153,100 in
1989, belong to student federations. The various
associations also
make their views known to state or congressional officials
when
issues of policy that affect them are debated.
Some associations traditionally have been identified
with
particular political parties. This was the case, to
a
greater or lesser extent, with Masons, fire fighters,
teachers'
federations, and the Radical Party (Partido Radical);
union
confederations and the parties of the left; employer
associations
and the parties of the right; the Roman Catholic Church,
as well as
its related organizations with the Conservative Party
(Partido
Conservador); and, in recent decades, the Christian
Democratic
Party (Partido Demócrata Cristiano--PDC). Many of the most
militant
party members have also been active in social
organizations. In
addition, party headquarters in local communities often
have served
as meeting places for all kinds of activities. The Radical
clubs of
small towns in the central south are especially active,
often
sponsoring sports clubs as well as the formation of fire
departments.
Chilean social life also has definite subcultures, with
the
main lines of cleavage being proximity to or distance from
the
Roman Catholic Church and social class. The schools that
parents
select for their children closely reflect these
subcultural
divisions. The latter are also strongly mirrored in
associational
life, as Chileans tend to channel their sports and leisure
activities into organizations within their subculture.
Schools,
churches, and unions contribute to this pattern by being
foci for
such organizing. In addition, there are some clubs and
centers
related to specific ethnicities, such as Arab, Italian, or
Spanish
clubs, even though, as noted previously, such identities
traditionally have been much less salient than religion
and class.
Occupational associations have been an important component
of class
and social status identities in Chilean society, with most
of them
affiliating people of like occupations regardless of their
religious identities or preferences. Although this has
helped
diminish the significance of religiously based identities,
the
leadership divisions and conflicts within the nation's
associations
can often be traced back to those subcultural differences.
People's
political preferences follow the subcultural lines of
cleavage as
well in most cases.
Social organizations did not fare well under the
military
government. Those that were perceived to be linked,
however
loosely, to the parties of the left were subjected to
sometimes
severe repressive measures. This was particularly the case
with
labor unions, whose activities were suspended for more
than six
years. They were only permitted to reorganize under new
legislation
beginning in 1979. Moreover, most associations, including
those of
business groups, were hardly ever consulted on policy
matters, and,
in the absence of normal democratic channels for exerting
influence, they found their opinions and petitions falling
on deaf
ears. Eventually, the most prominent social organizations
joined in
voicing their discontent with the military government
through what
was called the Assembly of Civility (Asamblea de la
Civilidad), and
their efforts contributed to the defeat of President
Augusto
Pinochet Ugarte (1973-90) in the 1988 plebiscite. The only
organizations that thrived under the military government
were the
women's aid and mothers' clubs, which were supported by
government
largesse and headed at the national level by Pinochet's
wife, Lucía
Hiriart.
With the return to democracy, social organizations
recovered
the ability to pressure Congress and the national
government. The
new government opted for explicit solicitation of the
opinions of
important interest associations on some of the policies it
was
considering. It also fostered negotiations between top
labor and
business leaders over issues such as labor law reforms,
minimum
wage and pension levels, and overall wage increases for
public
employees. These negotiations led to several national
agreements
between state officials and business and labor leaders,
thereby
inaugurating a new form of top-level bargaining previously
unknown
in Chile.
Data as of March 1994
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