Politicizing unionism, unionizing politics. Argentinean trade union confederations during the Kirchnerist governments

This article analyzes what were the modes of political action deployed by the groups that led the Argentine trade union confederations (Confederacion General del Trabajo and Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina) between 2007 and 2015. This period, coinciding with the two governments of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, witnessed different initiatives of union politicization. Using a qualitative methodological strategy and a theoretical approach focused on the multiple rationalities that operate in the realization of political actions in different arenas, we periodize the stage in three major moments and show the outcome of four forms of political action located in a continuum that goes from the separation to the overlap between unionism and politics: the purely corporate action, the dispute for political representation outside the Peronist spectrum, the dispute for political representation within the Peronist spectrum and the "politicization of the union". Likewise, we highlight the importance that the discussion on union autonomy and the links between unionism and politics gained in this stage.