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IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies                 Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations          Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor                  Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016                      Director, IWS News Bureau
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Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)

What Difference Do Unions Make? Their Impact on Productivity and Wages in Latin America.
Published: March 2005
http://www.iadb.org/res/index.cfm?fuseaction=Publications.View&pub_id=B-610
[It is not clear how to order this volume from the page on which it is listed at this time]
Language: English

The subject of labor unions in Latin America provokes a varity of diverse and strongly held views. While some see unions as a way to protect workers's rights and ensure an equitable distribution of income, others see unions as a drain of productivity or an intrusion of politics into the workplace. In spite of these strong oponions, the effects of unions in Latin America have received little empirical attention.

What Difference Do Unions Make? represents one of the first attempts to obtain evidence on union effects in the region. Following an examination of union density across countries, the studies in this volume evaluate the impact of unions on private-sector firm performance, agricultural productivity, and educational outcomes in public school systems. Unions effects are considered in detail for Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay, as well as the less-studied case of Guatemala. Some of the findings are surprising and may help provide a basis for policies that better address the concerns of workers, employers and the public at large.
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Stuart Basefsky                 *
Director, IWS News Bureau               *
Institute for Workplace Studies *
Cornell/ILR School                      *
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor            *
New York, NY 10016                      *
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Telephone: (607) 255-2703               *
Fax: (607) 255-9641                     *
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                *
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# posted by SBasefsky : 11:26 AM