Politics of labor reform in post-transition Brazil: Possibilities and limits of the labor reform in a conservative transitio

This study tries to understand the possibilities and limits of labor reform in the context of conservative political transition in Brazil by examining three aspects of labor reform (workers' benefits, the right to strike, union structure) during the Sarney government (1985-89). Despite the continued strength of traditional and authoritarian political elites, labor movement achieved autonomy from the state, unlimited right to strike, and substantial benefits for workers in the new democracy. At the same time, reform of the union structure to replace corporatist labor system with the plural unionism failed. The study deals with two major questions: (1) How was it possible for weak labor to achieve substantial success in the labor reform against the wishes of the conservative political elites and employers? (2) Given the mixed result of the reform efforts what are the possibilities and limits of the labor reform in a conservative transition? What factors affect the success and failure of the reform in the labor relations?;This study utilizes political opportunity structure and resource mobilization approaches of the social movement theory to analyze the dynamics of labor reform. The study argues that, first, while the internal resource of the labor movement was limited, the mobilization of labor since 1978 had made the existing corporatist labor control mechanism obsolete as a means of labor control. Second, the scope of labor reform was basically determined by the degree of unity of the labor movement and practice in the work places. Third, the role of the conservatives in determining the scope of labor reform was not dominant. Though the conservatives were the largest political bloc, there also existed substantial size of progressive forces that successfully enlisted the support of the centrists. Finally, the fragmentation of the ruling coalition and the absence of organic link between the labor movement and major political parties left a space for the labor movement to exert its influence. The implication of the study is that more attention should be paid to the development of new groupings within the civil society during the transition period to grasp the dynamics of the post-transition politics.