Posted: Thursday, 22 October 2009

The Trade Union Technical Advisory Council (COSATE) has existed for 45 years within the institutional structure of the Inter-American Conference of Labour Ministers (IACML) of the Organization of American States (OAS). But its effectiveness has been compromised by the bureaucratic nature of the OAS and the Labour Ministers Conference. Labour unions were invited to form an advisory body as part of the Alliance for Progress in the 1960s in the context of the cold war.

The results of the Labour Ministers Conference and its labour advisers were shaped to a large degree by the political events in the Americas throughout this period. This study traces the development of COSATE through the period of the Alliance for Progress and the cold war, (1963-1972), the period of military dictatorships (1972-1983), the return to democracy (1983-1990) and the post cold war period including the FTAA negotiations and the war on terror (1990-2008).

Download the PDF document.