ABSTRACT
“Solidarismo” -- Solidarity -- is a controversial tool of labor-management relations that has gained great influence in Costa Rica. Guatemalan promoter and former executive director Joseph W. Recinos says that Solidarismo is designed “to better labor-management relations, break down the concept of class struggle and capitalize the worker.” Solidarismo’s proponents argue that the movement contributes to labor-management harmony by bringing workers and employers together in a forum where their interests are not antagonistic, but mutually beneficial. In Guatemala, Solidarismo has encountered both skepticism and criticism from many union leaders and government officials. Solidarismo promoters promise that they will refrain from establishing associations while collective bargaining between a union and an employer is ongoing or where a union organizing committee has formed. At the Duralita factory south of Guatemala City, the employer has apparently used Solidarismo to great effect as one of several weapons in weakening a once strong union.
