Confidence in Brazilian Unions

Abstract

Although unions in Brazil are marginally effective in defining the employer-employee relationship, confidence in unions is high and exhibits a positive trend over time. A logistic regression model based on the Latinobarometer data series (1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009) empirically verifies that unions' state embeddedness really does matter in explaining confidence in unions in Brazil (i.e., confidence in government, especially during the Lula presidency, has a significant positive effect). Moreover, people who have a negative perception of their personal economic situations and are less trustful of others are more inclined to have confidence in unions. Não obstante o efeito bem limitado e marginal dos sindicatos na determinação das relações entre o patrão e o empregado, se mantem alto a confiança nos sindiatos e essa confiança mostra uma tendência positiva no decorrer do tempo. Um modelo de regressão logística baseado no série de dados Latinobarómetro (1996-2009) verifica empiricalmente que a integração dos sindicatos no Estado importa para explicar essa confiança neles, dado que a confiança no governo, sobretudo durante a presidência do Lula, tem tido um efeito positivo. Além disso, as pessoas cuja percepção da sua situação econômica pessoal seja negativa e que tenha menos confiança nos outros inclinam mais para confiar nos sindicatos.

Demobilised or dormant? Exploring pro-strike attitudes among employees who have never joined a strike

“…Second, during the period that followed, especially in the late 1990s and 2000s, when Brazil had increasingly opened its economy to global competition, the union movement and strikes declined. However, at the same time Lula, the union leader of the strikes in the late 1970s and 1980s, had become a prominent political left leader and then president of the country, contributing to maintaining a link between unions, their actions and the political dynamics (Frangi and Memoli, 2014). Strike actions have not completely disappeared since the 2000s.…”