Journal of Latin American Studies (2020), 1–25 doi:10.1017/S0022216X20000590 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Contesting the Neoliberal Order through Legal Mobilisation: The Case of Chilean Unions Francisca Gutiérrez Crocco* Adjunct Researcher at the Centro de Estudios de Conflicto y Cohesión Social (Centre for the Study of Conflict and Social Cohesion, COES), Santiago, Chile, and Assistant Professor at the Facultad de Economía y Negocios, Universidad Alberto Hurtado (UAH), Santiago, Chile. *Corresponding author. E-mail:
[email protected] (Received 22 November 2016; revised 31 August 2019; accepted 18 September 2019) Abstract Scholars interested in labour in Latin America have traditionally paid little attention to trade unions’ legal mobilisation. However, the increasing number of legal complaints filed by workers with labour ministries and/or the courts in countries like Argentina, Brazil and Chile calls for a more serious debate on the role that trade unions play in this process. This article focuses on the Chilean case. Drawing on various sources, it shows that Chilean unions have turned legal complaints into a weapon to gain more rights and curb employers’ power. This process has involved the strongest and most combative unions, and is due to two historical conditions: (1) the obstacles placed in the way of suc- cessful resort to more disruptive tactics; (2) the increase in institutional opportunities to report infringements of the law. Overall, the article challenges the current image of the Chilean unions by foregrounding their agency and their achievements over the last decade. Keywords: trade unions; labour movement; legal mobilisation; labour courts; Dirección del Trabajo (Chilean Labour Office); Chile Introduction Over the past three decades, most Latin American countries have moved towards a market economy, which has negatively impacted workers’ rights and the power of labour movements.