Productive restructuration and the metalworkers' union from ABC in the 1990's: the public politics viability

Abstract

From the end of the 1980’s at the beginning of the 1990’s, the industrial sector located on the ABC Paulista has faced important changes resulting from the international crisis that affects the country by then and from the restructuration process of the industrial park region. This restructuration resulted in relevant changes concerning the ways of production organization and the adoption of new technologies reducing the rate of employment, forcing the region to suit itself to a new reality. The closing down of factories and the transfer of some of them to other places of the country (where the workers were cheaper and their unions not so active) worsened the unemployment, which had already started to worry the local government and the unions. The crisis caused by the industrial restructuration demanded changes in the ABC Paulista Metalworkers Union’s way of acting. This had to be adapted to the new rules imposed by the market, the ones originated with the internationalization of the economy. This way, the union seeks to reformulate the strategies of action, its approach and goals. Its main point turns to the employment maintenance, the creation of new jobs and the efforts to minimize the high level of unemployment. The actions of this union concerning both life and work quality, and the employment maintenance can be observed through the politics developed during this period. The main strategy ceases to be the real fights and gives place to careful actions, and the negotiations with the businessmen and with the State become a plausible alternative. This article’s objective is to propose a reflection about the measures adopted by the ABC Paulista Metalworkers Union during the 1990’s in order to avoid the economical crisis that brought consequences not only to the ABC region, but to the whole national scenario as well.