From Towns To Hotels. The Effects Of Long Distance Commuting On Labor Unions’ Strategies. Evidence From The Peruvian Mining Industry

A radical change in mining camps' accommodations occurred in the last three decades. Long Distance Commuting (LDC) is replacing mining towns in many countries, opening discussions about its impacts on local development and on workers' family time management. It is less what we know about LDC's effects on mineworkers' unions. Drawing on an in-depth case study from Peru, I argue that LDC is transforming unions' capacity to organize in the local scale, given its impacts on three spaces: the camp, the household and the union hall. In contrast to pessimist accounts about the end of the mining town model, however, I also identify how new strategies are being developed to re-scale labor unions' actions