Mexico, a training-employment relationship to the test of professional boundaries

“I Walk and I Cross the line”. The case of transnational call centre operators in Mexico

Michael Da Cruz, Delphine Mercier

Here we present three debates on the transnationalisation of the labour, employment and qualification markets. First of all, we will present call centres and their development in Mexico, positioning this development in a cycle of technical transformations. Then, we will focus on transnational operators and this transnational management of labour. Finally, we will develop a cross analysis of transnational labour markets and the Mexican case to understand its role as a laboratory. Transnational work is above all dematerialised work and the key to spatialisation is detached from the question of geographical proximity. The most typical case is the work of young people in border companies in call centres but also in software production, in all organisations whose activity is embodied by platforms, tools, algorithms whose activity can be carried out on any territory.

Industrial restructuring’s impact on identity of communities, workers and their unions in México

Eleocadio Martínez Silva, Edgar Belmont Cortés, Georgina Rojas García

The restructuring of the steel, electrical and oil industries (once considered strategic for the development of the national economy) in Mexico, has produced profound changes in towns that were built as appendices around the company, under the enclave economy model. Based on three case studies, we will address, beyond the situations of unemployment that are created with productive adjustments, the impact of productive restructuring on the trajectory of communities, and on the identities of workers and their unions.

The teaching profession in Mexico. An accelerated mutation

Juan Carlos Silas Casillas

In Mexico, the teaching profession went through various stages that determined how its social and professional construction took place. These changes have been influenced by the intentions of individual governments and by historical international forces. Moreover, its relationship with the State and trade union organizations, two major players, has profoundly influenced the formation of the teaching profession, to the point that it can be defined as semi-professional rather than professional.