Abstract

BARRETTO GHIONE, Hugo. Social Interlocutors and Dialogue, or Labor Unions and Negotiation. Gaceta Laboral [online]. 2005, vol.11, n.1, pp.5-22. ISSN 1315-8597.

The use of language in the labor field tells us a lot about the reality of social undercurrents, the level of debate, and obviously, the perspective from which labor studies are approached. In this sense, the recent use of terms such as “social dialogue” instead of the traditional “negotiations” and “employee and labor organizations” raises the question as to if there has been a change in the sense and content of discourse in this area. Based on this possibility, a counterpoint between the communicative thesis that theoretically underlies social dialogue and the stongly criticized thesis of procedural focuses is developed. Beyond this theoretical debate as to the adequacy or not of Habermas´ proposals as to the strong conflictive reality protagonized by asymmetric power actors, it is affirmed that the central issue in the labor question is finding a group of fundamental rights that protect a person who works. Finally, recent experiences in countries such as Argentina and Brazil indicate that conflict, negociation and the traditional actors in labor relations continue to be the true axis or reality of the labor world.

Keywords : Social interlocutors; social dialogue; work ethic; labor rights.