La conduite de la politique de mobilité urbaine par les syndicats ELEMENTOS DE LECTURA Andrés Borthagaray y Andrea Gutierrez In Buenos Aires, unions have always been a strong actor in public policy; however, in recent years, transportation unions have become particularly significant. The Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) is the only federation with legal status that grants itself jurisdiction over the management of social security due to the Argentine law that legally acknowledges only one union per branch. Regardless of changes in policy, it has remained powerful during the last half century. Furthermore, unions related to transportation have a strong influence in the CGT. They have succeeded in electing the head of both the truck drivers’ union and the Confederación Argentina de Trabajadores del Transporte (CATT) as the leader of the CGT, which was historically run by industrial unions. One interesting case concerns bus transportation policy. For sixty years, the bus network was quite organized, relatively affordable and operating without public subsidies. The loss of industrial jobs on one hand and increased access to private cars on the other led to both a decline in passenger numbers and increased traffic congestion. In addition, during the 1990s, railway services improved briefly and attracted a higher modal share of passengers. This competition was reinforced by informal services. Therefore, even though bus fare reached a historical peak of US$ 0.75, the situation led bus operators to complain of strained finances. With the crisis of 2001/2002, user incomes remained stagnant, while bus-operating costs increased due to the variation of exchange rates; thus, the subsequent devaluation of the peso was addressed with a system of subsidies, meant to ease the blow of the crisis both for the passengers and the bus operators and employees. This system has continued up until today, even as average incomes in most households have increased and the relationship between service providers, governments and trade unions has changed. Therefore, while at first 100% of the revenues were covered by passenger fares, today it is only 25% and 75% is supported by a federal subsidy (according to various studies and expert interviews). After the economic crisis subsided, there were a series of collective bargaining agreements between UTA (Union Tranviarios Automotor) and the privately owned transportation service providers. The outcome of those bargains induced improvements in working conditions, training, social welfare coverage and wage increases. However, decision-making in the mobility sector remained quite controversial. Specific and shortRuth Felder: Lecturer in Administration and Public Policies in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and a PhD Candidate in Political Science at York University. Enseigne dans le programme d’administration et de politiques publiques à la faculté des sciences sociales de l’Université de Buenos Aires (Argentine). Elle est également candidate au doctorat en science politique à l’Université York de Toronto (Canada)
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