ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that political factors continued to have a strong impact on shaping strike patterns. The state of Rio Grande do Sul accounted for 10 percent of the industrial strikes, marking the resurgence of its union militancy since the 1964 coup. The 1978 shape reflects the first steps in strike activities, through many small strikes, largely of single establishments and of relatively short duration, suggesting the cautious restraint on the part of the workers and progressive labor leaders. The main claims for a rapid re-democratization of the institutions quickly pervaded the other movements as they struck a common cord not only among the industrial workers, but among the service workers as well. By 1979, under the initiative of the metalworkers of the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo plans were being made for a national meeting of union representatives to elaborate a project of basic reforms in the labor laws in response to government’s plan for superficial changes.
