Recent Strikes in Brazil

Brazilian unionism experienced significant transformations in the eighties. During the period from May 1978, with the vigorous strike movement of the Sao Paulo ABC region,' until the end of the eighties, there were innumerable changes: resumption of strike actions, an explosion of unionism among middle-range salaried workers and service-sector employees, an increase in rural unionism, the appearance of union centrals,2 attempts at consolidating the organization of factory workers, growth in unionization, and changes in the union structure after the 1988 Constitution, to name only a few. All of these form an interesting conjunction of factors, particularly when viewed against the background of the transformations in advanced capitalism that have rapidly penetrated the industrialized Third World, among them transformations in Fordist and Taylorist work standards, the creation of new ways of administering the workforce, decentralization of production, greater flexibility in production processes, deregulation of workers' social rights, decrease in the industrial contingent, a decline of the unionization rate, and the predominance of defensive policies. These tendencies, in embryonic or advanced form, have shaped the workforce in social structures dominated by advanced and monopolistic capital. The eighties were therefore a crucial decade-so far the century's most critical one-in which sharp transformations in the material and subjective aspects of work and in its forms and representative organisms have incited reexamination of central elements of the system. Although tempted to describe these transformations and some of the main elements of unionism in Brazil, I will focus

Economics · Political economy · Political science · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Employment, Labor, and Gender Studies · History · Labor Movements and Unions

• The World of Work, the Restructuring of Production, and Challenges to Trade Unionism and Social Struggles in Brazil

  Open Access•Ricardo Antunes, Laurence Hallewell•Latin American Perspectives•2000

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• Global economic restructuring and the world of labor in Brazil

  Open Access•Ricardo Antunes•Geoforum•2001

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