This article presents a research carried out in 2014-2016 in the region of Araucania (Chile), aimed at identifying the organizational characteristics and cultures of regional unionism. We use an approach based on action-research, with a qualitative ethnographic methodology of participative observation. Our work has geographical limitations for it to be generalized, but its results are introduced in a collaborative knowledge regarding the main organizational practices used by unions both in the elaboration of their repertoires and their positioning before adverse structural conditions. Its contribution lies in the revitalization of a line of involvement between social research and workers' organizations with a public sense for the social sciences.