Strikes in Brazil, 1945-1980 (Unions, Workers).

This study describes the pattern of strike activity in Brazil over a period of thirty-five years from 1945 to 1980 with three objectives: first, to present an overview and quantitative description of strike activity; second, to analyze the characteristics of workers' political participation through the strike; third, to explore the importance of political, economic and organizational processes in the generation of industrial conflict. The dissertation begins with a brief analysis of the legal foundations of the Brazilian corporative system of industrial relations and the power of the State over labor organizations. Chapter II examines the geographical distribution of strikes and the changes in the occupational composition of strikers. Changes in occupational distribution of industrial strikes have closely accompanied the structural transformations of the economy and have been predominantly the result of forces in the political process. Chapter III analyzes the economic and political factors as determinants of strikes. The objective is to assess the effects of business cycle indicators and government repression on the fluctuations of strike activity. In Chapters IV, V, VI the transformation of industrial strikes is analyzed in detail focusing on the role of forces in the political environment and changes in working-class organization. It is argued that political and organizational processes play a predominant role in shaping the patterns of Brazilian strikes over the thirty-five year period. Workers have generally made organizational innovations as a response to periodic repression by the State. In the final chapter the Brazilian strike experience is examined in the context of the major approaches to strike analysis: the economic model, the industrial relations perspective, and the political-organizational approach. The findings of the study show that the political-organizational approach which views strikes as forms of struggle for power and economic advantages provides the more adequate conceptual framework for studying industrial conflict in late-industrializing countries like Brazil. The study is based primarily on data taken from newspaper reports of strike events found in the Folha de Sao Paulo between 1945 and 1980.Ph.D.Labor relationsUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/160416/1/8502924.pd