ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the dilemma presented to the Brazilian trade unions of becoming politically strong and participative and having to face a pervasive process of insecurity at the workplace and rise of unemployment. The Brazilian trade union movement has reached a place of prominence in the political and economic scene. The examples of negotiation are being multiplied and apparently point to an irrefutable tendency, particularly in the context of economic adjustment and declining employment. Economic restructuring has varied according to industrial sector. Trade unions in Brazil are directly affected by the process of economic restructuring. The transformation in trade unionism in the 1980s can also be identified by the re-emergence of strikes, the increase of trade union organization among middle wage workers and workers of the service sector, the increase of rural trade unionism, the birth of trade union confederations, and the growth in trade union affiliation.
