• How is "globalization" changing the lives of male and female workers in Latin America and the Caribbean?
• What links the expansion of global markets and global production networks, to the restructuring of workplaces, households and communities throughout Latin America and the Caribbean?
• What types of strategies are Latin American workers using to defend living standards and assert their rights in the emerging context of 'globalization'?

The aim of the course is to sharpen each student's ability to discuss, research and act upon the effects that the current process of "globalization" is having upon workers and societies in the hemisphere. Although, the emphasis will be on Latin America and the Caribbean, the implications of globalization for all workers and societies of the Americas will be explored.

Three key expressions of "globalization" (and their consequences upon both 'formal' and 'informal' sector workers) will be analyzed in this course:

• The imposition of World Bank/IMF-sponsored economic reform programs of liberalization, privatization and deregulation (known as "Structural Adjustment Programs" (SAPs));
• The expansion of Export-Processing Zones (EZP), 'maquiladora's, and offshore service industries as governments opt for export-oriented growth; and
• The adoption of regional integration ("free trade") agreements such as NAFTA, MERCOSUR and the hemispheric-wide Free Trade Area Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) scheduled to be in place by 2005.

Based on the study of these three trends, the use of country case studies and resources from the World Wide Web--- the course will provide students with the opportunity to assess:

• Changes in the "conditions of existence" of formal and informal workers;
• Setbacks and successes experienced by Latin American and Caribbean workers over the last decade; and
• Difficulties and challenges confronted as workers strive to influence the course and character of "globalization" in the hemisphere.

The course is divided into five main thematic sections:

1. Studying Workers and Globalization: An Analytical Framework
2. Restructuring Labor and Society in the Name of Globalization:
   1. Economic Restructuring and Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs)
   2. Export Processing Zones and Maquiladoras:
   3. 'Free Trade' and Regional Integration Agreements
3. Socio-Economic and Politico-Cultural Impacts of "Globalization"
4. Assessing Strategies of Resistance and Transformation
5. Conclusion and Review

(For a detailed description of course content see below "6. Course Program")

Readings for the course include:

• [FG] Anderson, Sarah and John Cavanagh, Field Guide to the Global Economy (New York: New Press, 2000.
• [GO] Katz, Sheila and Chris Rosene. Going Once, Going Twice: Labour Protection in Latin American Neo-Liberal Economies: Case Studies of Mexico, Chile and Brazil. (Ottawa, Ontario: CLC, 1999)
• [NR] Rosen, Fred and Deidre McFadyen (editors). Free Trade and Economic Restructuring in Latin America: A NACLA Reader (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1995.
• [RP] Articles on Reserve at Library to be found by individual author as well as accessible on the Library's E-Reserve system.
• [www] Reading assignments from the World Wide Web are indicated in the Course Program.

In addition, students will track current labor conflicts in the region by subscribing to different electronic mailing lists.

I expect students to come prepared for class. This means:

• Completing the assigned readings by the date indicated in the course program;
• Keeping abreast of current labor events in the region by regularly visiting the websites indicated below.

	percent of grade
6-10 short (1 page) In-Class Reaction Papers	25%
Research Paper (6-7 pages) (due Nov. 17)	25%
In-Class Group Report	15%
Portfolio/Diary/Class Participation (due Dec 10)	10%
Final Exam	25%
TOTAL	100%

WARNING! No late research papers or portfolio/diaries will be accepted!!

Class attendance is required.

There are hundreds of sites dealing with issues covered in the course. Below, I have selected a few key English-language sites that provide a good springboard for your own research.

• Labor Section Web Site of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA). Everything you might need here. Scholarly, union and activist websites dealing with labor in Latin America and the Caribbean. http://www.his.latrobe.edu.au/lasa.html
• International Labour Office. Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean 1998 Labour Overview. Annual publication of the ILO describing labor conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean. The 1999 issue should be available in English as you read this. An excellent source for quantitative data on basic indicators. http://www.ilolim.org.pe/english/260ameri/publ/panorama/1998/index.shtml
• United Nations Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Website gives you access to statistical and economic information compiled by ECLAC. http://www.eclac.org/index1.html
• Latin American Network Information Center The name says it all. The best starting point for surfing the net on Latin American and the Caribbean. As one happy user put it, "Each time I revisit LANIC I am more impressed." http://lanic.utexas.edu/
• Resource Center for the Americas. The Minnesota-based center has one of the best sites with information and analysis about the issues that affect people in the Americas. Visit the 'Labor Project', the 'Working Together Newsletter' links and use the "Country Lens" search engine. One stop browsing! http://www.americas.org
• Campaign for Labor Rights (CLR). A coalition of grassroots organizations involved in ending sweatshops and child labor. http://summersault.com/~agj/clr/
• National Labor Committee (NLC) seeks to educate and actively engage the U.S. public on human and labor rights abuses by corporations. It has gained prominence due to its campaigns against The Gap, Disney and Kathie Lee/Wal-Mart. Provides latest alerts on what is going on in the maquiladoras and sweatshops around the world. http://www.nlcnet.org/
• Borderlines is a monthly publication produced by the Inter-Hemispheric Resource Center, a private nonprofit research and policy institute located in Silver City and Albuquerque, New Mexico (Visit the Borderlines Index). http://www.irc-online.org/
• United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS). A coalition of 100 student groups in the US and Canada mobilizing for sweatshop free campuses. http://www.umich.edu/~sole/usas/schoolinfo/
• Workers in the Global Economy Project A joint project of the Institute for Policy Studies, the International Labor Rights Education Fund, the Economic Policy Institute and Cornell's Labor and Industrial Relations Center. It publishes papers providing useful background. http://www.laborrights.org/projects/globalecon/papers.html

Dates	Class Number, Topic	Readings/Assignment Due
Sept. 6	1. Introduction to Course
I. STUDYING WORKERS AND GLOBALIZATION : A FRAMEWORK
Sept. 8	2. What is "globalization"?	[FG]: Ch1
11	3. The current restructuring of Latin American capitalism	[NR]: Ch1
13	4. Laying the analytical foundations for the course	[FG]: Ch2,
15	5. Micro and macro politico-economic interactions
18	6.Tracing Impacts	[FG]: Ch3
II. RESTRUCTURING LABOR AND SOCIETY IN THE NAME GLOBALIZATION
A. ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING THROUGH SAPS
Sept. 20	7. Crisis of ISI Model/Labor Arrangements	[NR]: Ch11; Ch10, Ch13
22	8. What are SAPs?: Policy Prescription and Stages	[GO]: Ch1
25	9. Impact of SAP on Workers: México	[GO]: Ch2; [NR] Ch3
27	10. Impact of SAP on Workers: Chile	[GO]; Ch3; [NR] Ch 4
2-Oct	11. Impact of SAPs on Workers: Brazil	[GO]: Ch4; [NR] Ch 8
4	12. Gender Impacts	[GO]: Ch5,
6	13. Impact on Workers of SAP (Group Reports I)
B. EXPORT PROCESSING ZONES: A MODEL FOR FUTURE?
Oct. 11	14. The Logic of Export Processing Zones
13	15. Maquiladoras	[www] NLC (1998a)
16	16. Labor Control, Gender and EPZs	[NR]: Ch12; [RP] Safa (1997)
18	17. Textiles in Central America	[RP] Figueroa (1996) in [RP]
20	18. Working Conditions	[www] Kourous (1998) [www] CJM (1998)
23	19. Working Conditions	[www] NLC (1998b) [www] NLC (1999) [www] U.S./Labor (1999)
25	20. Service EZPs in Caribbean	[RP] Anthes(1991), [RP] Freeman (2000)
27	21. Workers and EPZs: Group Reports (II)	**Group Reports (II)
C. FREE TRADE AND REGIONAL INTEGRATION:
30	22. What is NAFTA? What is MERCOSUR? What is FTAA?	[www]Hansen-Kuhn (1996)
Nov. 1	23. Economic Analysis of Economic Integration	[FG]: Ch4; [NR] Ch 6
3	24. Impact on Workers	[www] Bronfenbrenner (1997)
6	25. Comparison NAFTA & MERCOSUR
8	26. Alternative Proposal of Regional Integration
10	27. Response to Globalization: Group Reports (III)	**Group Reports (III)
III. SOCIO-ECONOMIC/POLITICO-CULTURAL IMPACTS
Nov.13	28. Globalization: Main Trends Revisited	[NR] Ch9; Ch14
15	29. Production and Globalization	[RP] Gereffi and Hempel 1996
17	30. Reproduction and Globalization.	** RESEARCH PAPER DUE**
20	31. The State, Political, Social Rights and Globalization	[NR] 22, 23
24	No Class (Thanksgiving)
IV. STRATEGIES OF RESISTANCE AND TRANSFORMATION
Nov.27	33. Conceptualizing Resistance to Globalization	[RP] Mittleman and Chin (2000)
29	34. Resistance I	[FG]: Ch5, Ch6
Dec. 1	35 Resistance II	[NR]: Ch 16, Ch17, Ch18
4	36. Transnational Experience I	[RP] Armbruster-Sandoval (1999) [www] Bacon 1998 [www] LaBotz 1998
6	37. Transnational Experience II	[RP] Figueroa 1996b [RP] Robin 1996
8	38. Strategies for Labor in the 21st century	[RP] Cadji (2000) [RP] Navarro (2000) Dossier/Portfolio Due DECEMBER 10
V. CONCLUSION
Dec.11	39. Retracing Our Itinerary/ Perspectives for Labor in the Americas
13	40. Review for Final Exam
DEC 20	**** FINAL EXAM ***

The readings for each section of the course are indicated below. Additional readings may be assigned during the semester. You can read the [www] readings by clicking on the hyperlink.

Recall that:	[FG]	Field Guide
	[NR]	NACLA Reader
	[GO]	Going Once
	[RP]	On Reserve at the Library
	[www]	Visit World Wide Web link indicated

1. STUDYING WORKERS AND GLOBALIZATION: AN ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK

   • [FG]: Ch1, Ch2, Ch3
   • [NR] Ch1

2. RESTRUCTURING SOCIETIES AND LABOR IN THE NAME OF GLOBALIZATION

   1. ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING AND SAPS

      • [NR] Ch 11, 10, 13, 4, 8
      • [GO] Ch 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

   2. EXPORT PROCESSING ZONES AND MAQUILADORAS

      • [www] National Labor Committee
        1998a. "Behind Closed Doors: The Workers Who Make Our Clothes: Report by an 8 student delegation" (October)
        http://www.nlcnet.org/behindclosed/toc.htm
      • [NR] Ch.12
      • [RP] Safa, Helen (1997) "Where the Big Fish Eat the Little Fish: Women's Work in the Free Trade Zones," NACLA Report on the Americas, Vol. XXX, No. 5, (March/April), pp. 31-36.
      • [RP] Figueroa, Hector (1996a)"In the Name of Fashion: Exploitation in the Garment Industry" NACLA Report on the Americas, Vol. XXIX, No. 4 (Jan/Feb), pp.34-40.
      • [www] Kourous, George.
        1998. "Workers' Health is on the Line: Occupational Health and Safety in the Maquiladoras," Borderlines 47, Vol. 6, No. 6 (Aug)
        (http://www.irc-online.org) Select 'Bordelines', Select 'Back Issues'. Find
      • [www] Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras
        1998. "Testimony of Auto Trim Workers in Matamoros and Valle Hermoso," Borderlines 47, Vol. 6, No. 6 (Aug)
        (http://www.irc-online.org) Select 'Bordelines', Select 'Back Issues'. Find
      • [www] National Labor Committee
        1998b. "Wal-Mart Sweatshops in Honduras" (November)
        http://www.nlcnet.org/walmart/honwal.htm
      • [www] National Labor Committee
        1999. " Fired For Crying to the Gringos: The women in El Salvador who sew Liz Claiborne garments speak out asking for justice " (July).
        http://www.nlcnet.org/LIZ/FIRED/index.html
      • [www] U.S./Labor Education in the Americas Project, People of Faith Network, United Students Against Sweatshops.
        1999. "Phillips-Van Heusen: An Industry "Leader" Unveiled: An Investigative Report into the Closing of a Maquiladora Factory in Guatemala," (June 10, 1999)
        http://www.americas.org/labor/index.htm
      • [www]Anthes, Gary H.
        1991 "U.S. Firms Go Offshore for Cheap Data Processing,"
        Computerworld Aug. 26, 1991, Vol. 5, Issue 34, p. 1, 3
        (Also Available from ABI-Inform, Backfile (1986-1997)
      • [RP] Freeman, Carla
        2000 "Chapter 2, Pink Collar Bajans: Working Class through Gender and Culture on the Global Assembly Line," High Tech and High Heels in the Global Economy (Durham & London: Duke University Press, 2000), pp. 21-65

   3. 'FREE TRADE' AND REGIONAL INTEGRATION AGREEMENTS

      • [www] Hansen-Kuhn, Karen,
        1996 "The Free Trade Area of the Americas," Foreign Policy in Focus, Volume 1, Number 27 December 1996
        http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/briefs/vol1/ftaa.html
      • [FG] Ch. 4
      • [NR] Ch 6
      • [www] Bronfenbrenner, Kate
        1997. "We'll Close! Plant Closings, Plant-Closing Threats, Union Organizing and NAFTA," Multinational Monitor (March), Vol. 18, No.3
        http://www.essential.org/monitor/hyper/mm0397.04.html