The State and Trade Unionism in Brazil

Abstract

State intervention in the organization of the Brazilian trade union movement dates from the 1930s. Immediately following the revolution of October 1930 that brought Getuilio Vargas to power, the provisional government created the Ministry of Labor, Industry, and Commerce, and four months later, on March 19, 1931, it issued the first unionization law, requiring unions to register with the ministry and imposing a series of limitations on their organization and operation as a condition of this official recognition. In 1943 the same Getulio Vargas, then exercising dictatorial powers, edited the Consolidation of Labor Laws, thus completing the organization of the Brazilian corporatist union structure. From 1943 to the present, the framework for trade unionism in Brazil has remained fundamentally unchanged. This longevity and stability are particularly impressive considering the great economic, social, and political changes Brazil has undergone in the past four decades. In addition to being required to register with the state, unions are organized along economic lines or by occupational categories, and only one group per category is permitted in a given municipality (a principle called unicidade sindical). Unions have the power to impose dues on all workers in their jurisdiction, whether members or not. Finally, unions represent their workers before the Labor Court, an arm of the judiciary that resolves conflicts and oversees negotiations between unions and employers. In sum, although, in contrast to the situation in some of the Latin American military dictatorships of recent years, trade union activity is not prohibited, it can take place only within a statecontrolled system that denies it freedom of organization and autonomy.