Slides for a teach out talk I gave during the 3rd day of the USS strike (26 February 2018).

1. STRIKES AND POLITICAL
CHANGE IN BRAZIL
Marieke Riethof, @mariekeriethof
Teach out talk, Liverpool, 26 February 2018

2. OVERVIEW
• Labour and democratization
• Trade unions and the rocky road to
political power
• Brazil today: Labour strategies under
Lula and Dilma.
• Brazil today: growing polarization and
political crisis.
Question for us today:
Under what conditions do strikes have a
political impact?
• Greve = strike in Portuguese

3. LABOUR AND
DEMOCRATIZATION
• Military dictatorship, 1964-1985:
widespread human rights
violations and repression
• 1978-1979: large strikes in the
urban industrial sector, particularly
in multinational corporations.
• Initially focused on wages and
working conditions; quickly turned
into struggle for democracy.

4. THE STRIKE MOVEMENT AND
DEMOCRACY
• The strikes mobilized a working class that was new in size
and experience.
• Highly repressive conditions: police repression,
imprisonment of union leaders, authoritarian labour-
management relations.
• As a result, workers had to find new ways of
circumventing restrictions on union action.
• Examples: Saab-Scania andVolkswagen strikes
• Lula’s comment on 1979 metalworkers’ strike

5. DEMOCRATIC
TRANSITION
• Strike movement intensified in the early
1980s, leading to a general strike in 1983
• Unions helped found a new party, the
Workers’ Party (PT) in 1979.
• Intense debates (and disagreements!)
about the new democracy in Brazil and the
political role of trade unions.
• Mass protests for direct presidential
elections (Diretas Já) [strike graph]
• Transition to civilian rule in 1985.
• Labour and civil society protests
challenged the military’s attempt to control
the democratisation process.
“I want to vote for the
president”

6. PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR STRIKES
IN BRAZIL, 1984-2013
Source: DIEESE, 2015
Impeachment
Collor &
economic crisis
Economic crisis
& aftermath
Plano Real
Stagnation
but growing
no. public
sector
strikes
Increases
since
2008-9
Diretas Já &
economic
crisis

7. TRADE UNIONS AND THE ROCKY
ROAD TO POLITICAL POWER
• Why did unions become involved in politics
and what dilemmas & conflicts did this create?
• The strike movement (late 1970s-1980s)
underlined the political importance of unions,
leading to their intense political involvement.
• Tensions between militant and moderate
strategies.
• Problematic relationship with the Workers’
Party. Their trajectories are often equated
but this simplifies a complex reality.

8. TRADE UNION
POLITICAL STRATEGIES
• Democratisation: working class key actor in
democratisation process.
• Labour power: political, social/networking and
symbolical resources.
• Focus on how activists construct labour
power, rather than as objective, structural
factors.
• How do union activists interpret & construct
their context in political terms and how does
this shape their strategies and debates?
• How do union activists connect political
agendas with the representation of workers’
interests?

9. BRAZIL TODAY: LABOUR
STRATEGIES UNDER THE LULA &
DILMA GOVERNMENTS
• Election Lula to presidency in 2002; PT in
power until impeachment Dilma Rousseff in
2016.
• Dilemma between access to political
influence and political autonomy.
• Willingness to protest if core interests
were affected; reluctance to destabilize a
friendly government.
• Internal debates, growing factionalism and
splits: ideological and practical.
• Growing distance between leadership &
grassroots activists.

10. PENSION AND SOCIAL
SECURITY REFORMS (2003)
• Proposal to cap retirement benefits while increasing
the minimum age and years of service requirements.
• Vehemently opposed by public-sector unions but
reluctance to rock the boat in other sectors [strike
graph].
• Split between those who wanted to push PT
towards radical reforms and those who saw
moderation as essential for political influence.
• Political splits: union and party alternatives to the
left of the PT and the Central Única dos
Trabalhadores.
Pres. Cardoso passes on
IMF reforms to his
successor Lula.

11. PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR
STRIKES
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Total Public Private

12. BRAZIL TODAY:
POLARIZATION &
POLITICAL CRISIS
IN THE 2010S
• Much focus on political dimensions
but new forms of labour
mobilization often overlooked.
• “Neo-developmentalism” in Brazil:
hybrid of macroeconomic stability,
state intervention & social
improvement
• Economic boom & new
dependency on natural resources.
• Mega-events:World Cup &
Olympics
• Below surface of 2013-2016 mass
demonstrations: protests and
labour unrest associated with
development priorities since 2009.

13. NEW
FORMS OF
LABOUR
MILITANCY
Strikes and labour conflicts involving
workers not represented by
established unions; spreading beyond
traditional heartland in Brazilian
southeast (2008-9 onwards).
Examples:
- Strikes at hydroelectric dams (Belo
Monte, Jirau,Teles Pires,Tapajós) and
port facilities; conflicts with
construction unions.
- World Cup stadiums: 310,000 on
strike in Northeast in 2011; 59,000
workers on 29-day strike in
Fortaleza in 2012.
- Oil refineries (Abreu e Lima refinery
in Pernambuco, 2012); protests
against privatisation Petrobras.
- Garis (street cleaners) in Rio.

14. “SEJAM BEMVIND@S À LUTA DE
CLASSES”*
[WELCOME TO THE CLASS STRUGGLE]
* João Pedro Stédile (MST) at anti-
impeachment protest in Brasília.
Mov. Sem
Teto 2016
MST
2016
World Cup
– Maracanã
stadium
2013
Street cleaners, Rio 2013

15. PROTESTS AGAINST PENSION
AND LABOUR REFORMS
“We will not pay for the crisis” ”Out with Temer and his reforms!
Direct general elections now”

16. CONCLUSIONS
• Labour studies often focused on workplace conflicts but attention
also needed to political strategies and implications of trade union
action.
• Labour mobilization intensified 4-5 years before 2013-2016
demonstrations, reflecting dissatisfaction with direction of
development & labour rights violations.
• Polarization reflects labour movement’s complicated trade-offs
between political influence and opposition.
Question for us:
• Under what conditions do strikes have a political impact?
Marieke Riethof, @mariekeriethof