Incorporating Sex Workers into the Argentine Labor Movement

Sex workers in Argentina and beyond are making their histories visible through political action, often in the face of extreme and violent repression. Alongside two first waves of sex worker organizing, a third appears to be emerging from countries in the Global South, which has largely been neglected in academic commentaries. One such organization is Asociación de Mujeres Meretrices de la Argentina (AMMAR), the female sex workers' association of Argentina. This essay draws on questionnaire data, participant observation, and in-depth interviews with union and nonunion sex workers and members of the Central de Trabajadores Argentinos (CTA), the umbrella federation of which they are a part, across ten cities in Argentina. It traces the relationship between AMMAR and the CTA to examine how the two organizations have worked together to organize workers in an infamously exploitative, precarious, and vulnerable labor sector to achieve social and political change. The essay contributes to debates about the regeneration of the trade union movement and challenges the reigning wisdom that sex workers and trade unions are unlikely partners.