RANK AND FILE: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON LATINA/O WORKERS IN THE US

Latinas/os are a significant and growing section of the American working class. By the year 2,000, according to demographers, Latinas/os will comprise about twenty-seven percent of the total United States work force, while Latina factory workers will outnumber their white female counterparts. Their growing numbers have stimulated many public policy studies on the impact of Latinas/os on other workers and industries. But few scholars have examined the experiences and lives of Latina/o workers. This article is a contribution to our understanding of the current Latina/o worker experience. The author explores several key issues: the effects of deindustrialization on Latinos in the U.S. auto industry; the possible impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement on Latina/o workers; Latina/o participation and relations with organized labor; and the impact of ongoing Latin American immigration on Latina/o workers in the United States. The author argues that the majority of Latinos experience a process of proletarianization which, in turn, is exacerbated by race. The effects of racial and ethnic discrimination have largely shaped the recent history of Latina/o workers in the United States.