The Brazilian trade unionism during Lula administration

The Brazilian trade union movement has been experiencing a process of reconfiguration since the rise of the Workers Party (PT) to the federal administration. This process is caused by several factors, which this communication is going to analyze. First, we must consider the discontent of some trade union currents with the PT government policies, especially in its first term: indeed, while maintaining the key elements of macroeconomic policy of Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s administration, Lula has promoted and/or tried to implement a series of reforms that have reduced or threatened to reduce labor rights. One of them, the pension reform, held in 2003, led to the withdrawal of rights of public servants, heavily unionized sector and with great integration with the Unified Workers Central (CUT), the largest and most long-lived Brazilian union federation, triggering a process of fission and promoting the creation of new organizations: the National Coordination of Struggles (Conlutas) in 2004 and Intersindical in 2006. Second, we must highlight the strategies adopted by the Lula administration to involve the trade union movement with its political platform: tripartite bodies have been created (the Council of Economic and Social Development (CDES) and the National Labor Forum (FNT) to discuss the pension reform, tax, labor and trade union in an attempt to build consensus around the most controversial issues and to minimize a possible reaction of workers to policies to be adopted. Finally, as part of Lula’s administration strategies to the union movement, we must recognize the role of legislation that established the funding and recognition of unions, which led to a further rupture inside CUT, with the creation of the Central Workers of Brazil (CTB).