Cátedras Conacyt in the margins of subcontracting and labor flexibility

Abstract

The aim of this work is to examine the labor practices of Conacyt academic staff from the perspective of their subjective experience in this work field. The “Catedras Conacyt” are academic positions for young researchers, as the result of a new Mexican government program that establishes an atypical and flexible triangular labor relations system for the academic sector in Mexico. In the current debate a relation between the atypical-flexible and the job insecurity is widely accepted, although not everybody agree with this point of view. Overall, this debate is referenced to labor areas of industry and services, usually low-skilled staff, none of which is the case of these young academic staff. So, it is worth checking if that association also operates in Conacyt “Catedras”. Seventeen interviews were conducted with young academics, from which it is concluded that hardly can be associated “Catedras” with a condition of precariousness. However, there are problematic aspects that should not be ignored.