From “strike” to the “pueblada”. Politic culture and frameworks for collective action : the case of ATE Neuquén between 1990-1995

Abstract

In this paper I introduce an analysis of the main actions of one of the combative syndicates of Neuquén: The State Workers Association (ATE). The aim is to point out some outstanding features of the 1990-1995 period wich then marked the emergence of a politic culture of protest of which ATE is one of the main characters. I concentrate on the first actions of the period, in resistance to the state reform carried out by the local government (in general, mobilizations, strikes, acts in the streets), then I focus on the “pueblada” of the city of Senillosa (1994), marked as the first collective action of these type accompanied by the state syndicate. This episode was the immediate of the well-known and emblematic “puebladas cutralquenses” (1996-1997). For the analysis of the phenomenon I use the concepts of the political culture of protest and cultural frame, trying to articulate then in a critical way.