Resilience and Renewal: The Enforcement of Labor Laws in Brazil

Abstract

What happens to a country's system of labor laws when its government embraces market‐oriented reforms? In a twist on the prediction that labor regulations will be repealed, researchers find that laws remain in place but are not faithfully enforced, a phenomenon known as de facto flexibility. This article examines the case of Brazil to understand its near‐opposite; namely, resilience and renewal in the enforcement of labor regulations. It finds that labor unions have combined the corporatist authority they gained under state control with the autonomy they acquired under democratization to devise new modes of action and to safeguard existing regulations. Meanwhile, labor inspectors and prosecutors rely on existing laws to combat precarious work conditions and promote formal employment relations, which strengthen the unions. This mutually supportive arrangement is neither perfect nor free of tension, but it shows how workers can be protected even when employers are subjected to global competition.

Political interference and regulatory resilience in Brazil

“…A similar resilience in face of change was found by Coslovsky et al . () in the impact of labor legislation in Brazil when the country opened up its economy in the early 1990s. For many analysts the expectation was that this change would either induce a modernization of the country's rigid pro‐worker labor legislation, which could hinder participation in the competitive globalized economy, or at least would lead to a de facto flexibilization, where lax enforcement and informal arrangements would allow adaptations and workarounds to the new rules.…”

Yet another paradigm change? Narratives and competing policy paradigms in Brazilian labour market policies

“…Law No. 13.467, enacted on 13 July 2017, significantly altered the Brazilian labour regulations (Consolidação das Leis do Trabalho (CLT)) originally passed in 1943 (Coslovsky, Pires, & Bignami, 2017;Planalto, 2017). The proposed adaptations represent the most far-reaching changes of labour laws for decades (Hall, 2009;Hunter & Power, 2007;Silva, 2017).…”

“…Another major and much contested change is the elimination of the previously mandatory character of trade union contributions. Traditionally, every employee had to pay the union fee (Coslovsky et al, 2017). Consequently, union density in Brazil is comparatively high, though drawing conclusions on the actual degree of labour organisation is challenging (Schneider, 2013).…”

Reformas Institucionais Na Segurança Pública: Contribuições Da Justiça De Transição E Do Direito E Desenvolvimento

“…Em 2015, a média das Américas foi de 18.6 vítimas por 100 mil habitantes, quase o dobro. Dentre os países da região, o Brasil tem o nono pior desempenho (30,5), à frente apenas de Honduras (85,7), El Salvador (63,2), Venezuela (51,7), Colômbia (48,8), Belize (37,2), Guatemala (36,2), Jamaica (35,2) e Trinidad e Tobago (32,8). 36 Estudo do IPEA mostra que o impacto econômico também é significativo.…”

“…Esta possibilidade de ativação posterior é uma vantagem estratégica em negociações de reformas, já que serve de ponto focal para uma futura mobilização da sociedade civil por vezes mais eficiente do que uma nova mobilização para alteração do enquadramento legal. 30 Murillo e Levitsky não debatem ou elencam prioridades para as reformas institucionais no continente a partir de um determinado conceito de Estado de direito. 31 Porém, apresentam dois desafios centrais, que remontam aos dilemas dos estudos de consolidação democrática da transitologia -dilemas, como vimos, ligados a concepções de rule of law e democracia.…”