Defending workers' rights in export processing zones: Women's labor organizing in the Central American garment industry

Female workers in the highly competitive export processing zones (EPZs) of Central America's labor surplus economies are among the least likely candidates for labor mobilization, according to literature on globalization and labor. Yet documented instances of successful labor organizing in Nicaragua and Honduras pose rare but important contradictions to the larger trend of labor decline in much of the world. These examples are crucial for identifying the theoretical conditions that facilitate unionization in the new global economy. The dissertation analyzes the conditions shaping the incentives and opportunities for labor organizing by female garment workers in EPZs. Building upon diverse theoretical traditions in the collective action literature, I employ a multilevel approach to studying factory unionization, examining broader structural factors, firm level and organizational characteristics, and female workers' individual perspectives on participation in organizing. In addition, the research considers how gender shapes organizing opportunities for this predominantly female workforce. Alternative gender-based organizing offers female workers another form of organization that overlaps with the goals of labor unions. I compare worker interest and participation in both forms of organization and directly examine the inter-organizational dynamics between unions and women's groups. The research methodology includes elite interviews and an original survey of over 500 female EPZ workers in two national settings, Honduras and Nicaragua. I employ qualitative methods and interview data to form conclusions in several chapters. I combine these with quantitative methods used to analyze the survey results to evaluate worker opinions on mobilization. I find that there continue to exist localized structural conditions more and less conducive to worker organizing even in an unlikely broader context. In addition, the dissertation shows how gender is crucial to understanding the incentives, opportunities, and obstacles to labor organizing in predominantly female workforces. Finally, the inter-organizational dynamics witnessed in Central American EPZs shed light on the complex relationships characterizing popular organizations in the context of economic globalization and exclusionary democracy.