Abstract

MICHA, Ariela. Las condiciones de trabajo de la enfermería en Argentina: algunos determinantes político-institucionales. Estud. trab. [online]. 2015, n.49, pp.61-90. ISSN 0327-5744.

Nursing is a highly feminized occupation, which involves a high level of direct care. In Argentina, the job outlook for nursing is characterized by low wages, the persistence of precarious forms of contracting, multiple job-holding, work overload, and lack of infrastructure and inputs. Given these issues, this article aims to contribute to the reflection on how some political and institutional factors are affecting the configuration of these poor working conditions. Without claiming to address the full spectrum of determinants of the employment status of this occupation, the article seeks to explain the important role of union representation and the characteristics it acquires in our national context. In this way, the multiple levels of union fragmentation and its consequences in terms of a loss of bargaining power for the specific demands of workers in nursing are explored, and how this affects the configuration of low wages with high levels of dispersion, multiple job-holding, and extensive working hours. In turn, attention is given to projects seeking regulatory changes to address the shortcomings of the current situation, taking into account the multiple resistances to change.

Keywords : Nursing; Labor conditions; Care workers.

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