Militants under the shadow of the present

Abstract

The restructuring of Brazilian telecommunications sector that began in the mid-1990s with the dissolution of the state monopoly and the privatization of the Telebrás system in 1998, brought significant changes to the labor unions operating in this sector. Firstly, the clearly defined axis of union/corporate negotiations during the period of state ownership was fragmented, dispersing the negotiations geographically. Secondly, the changes in the sector have influenced the work experiences as well as the demographic composition of the workers and new union activists: today they are younger, with higher levels of education in diverse areas, and receive lower salaries. This results in differences between the distinct generations of union members in terms of their interpretations of the past and the present, as well as in their perceptions of the legitimacy of union practices. Such differences, when combined with the impositions of the reorganization of the labor relations in the sector, result in a change in the negotiating patterns of the union, as well as in its own internal reorganization. This study examines the impact of TELESP privatization on the development of the practices militants in SINTETEL of São Paulo, from the case of union leaders that left the union over the process of changes. The analysis is based on interviews with both present and former union activists, collective agreements, printed materials from the unions, union bylaws, and data from the RAIS/CAGED databases.