The institutionalization of consensus: action of CUT and FS during the PT governments

Author(s)

Ana Paula Fregnani Colombi

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Economia
• Defense date: 2018-02-28

Examining board members

José Dari Krein; Andréia Galvão; Hugo Miguel Oliveira Rodrigues Dias; José Ricardo Garcia Pereira Ramalho; Roberto Véras de Oliveira

• Advisor: José Dari Krein

Abstract

This thesis analyzes how the strategy of Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) and Força Sindical (SF) sought to change the labor agenda during the PT governments (2003-2014) with the aim of discussing the orientation of the actions of the two major Brazilian trade union confederations during this period. Through the analysis of the participation of these trade union confederations in the institutional spaces in contrast with their discursive repertoires, this research discussed the hypothesis that the social partnership strategy privileged by these institutions was consolidated through a search for consensus to the detriment of conflict. First, it was shown that despite the potential of the new political and economic moment that has opened up in national life, the widening of labor market heterogeneities and the permanence of labor relation flexibility have imposed new challenges to collective action in parallel with the general tendencies of contemporary capitalism. Then, based on this scenario, the trade union strategies which was mobilized in order to claim the economic agenda and dispute public regulation of labor were mapped. The research revealed the subordination of the labor agenda to the common interests with the different fractions of capital and to the critical moderation in relation to the government. These elements characterized a social partnership strategy oriented by the institutionalization of consensus. In these terms, this strategy allowed the achievement of punctual gains, especially the economic ones, but it compromised the political field for broader disputes in the scope of labor rights and social protection, expressing the limits of this strategy in the current neoliberal and financialized capitalism (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/19423-1 - The labour in the PT's government: a balance of union action about the labor regulation in the years 2003-2014
• Grantee: Ana Paula Fregnani Colombi
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate