LAUSR

Since the end of the 1990s, as in other Latin American countries, Uruguay has experienced an "agricultural boom," an advance in the agricultural sector and the introduction of new technologies as well as new ways of producing and working. In addition, since 2005, the country has seen a surge in rural unionization, associated with collective bargaining processes and the expansion of workers' rights at the national level. However, this process has not yet been able to consolidate significant changes in the historical working conditions of rural labor. This paper analyzes the social construction of the risk of rural wage labor from the perspective of rural leaders, based on a qualitative approach. In the workers' discourses appear elements of naturalization as well as persistent difficulties in their work to improve their working conditions, as a way of impacting their health and quality of life.