Business-State Relations in Brazil: Challenges of the Port Reform Lobby by Mahrukh Doctor

Author:Mahrukh Doctor [Doctor, Mahrukh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Transportation, Development, Labor & Industrial Relations, Industries, Political Economy, Political Science, American Government, General, Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781135010416
Google: hiElDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 33598259
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-05-01T00:00:00+00:00

What role did corporatism play in reform implementation and outcomes? The longshoremen, originally employees of the SOEs, found sympathy from other state employees, especially those eager to protect the corporatist privileges and influence of their own positions. Analysis showed that corporatist solidarity of state employees in the ministries and dock companies weighed heavily against the implementation of port reform. The differential status of workers not only hampered their unity (via division of their interests), but reinforced their sense of vulnerability. Unsurprisingly, they insisted on maintaining the institutional protections that corporatism offered.

My interviewees’ comments also demonstrated the importance of disunity among labour groups. When asked why labour was unsuccessful in its lobbying, 46 per cent of interviewees mentioned disunity as an important reason for labour’s failure to influence the legislative outcome. Other reasons included labour’s inability to counter its poor image in the media (37 per cent), weak leadership (32 per cent), hard-line and unrealistic position of union leaders (21 per cent) and the low level of PT support in Congress (12 per cent). Interviews with legislators reinforced the negative impact of worker disunity (in contrast, business unity benefited the business lobby). Deputies were unimpressed by the level of disagreement and the stubborn self-interested positions of the three federations representing port unions in Brasilia. A deputy, whose constituency included port workers, noted that

[t]he port unions missed a golden opportunity…. A more open attitude towards negotiation might have given them greater participation in the privatisation process and in defining the new structure of ports. I blame their ineffectiveness on corporatism, and their lack of strategy and vision.26

Another deputy,27 with a strong pro-business and pro-liberalisation stance, noted that port unions were organised, but in ‘an uncivilised way’. According to him, they often quarrelled amongst themselves over insignificant details, and failed to present their case ‘in the monolithic and coherent block’ that business did. This deputy also noted, with irony, that ‘consensus reigned and success followed’ when obstruction of the law became a focus of union activities. Seen from labour’s perspective, group disunity led to a failure to impact policy formulation. Union leaders were quick to correct this mistake in the implementation phase. Ironically, corporatism created labour solidarity even as it fostered fragmentation of labour representation.

Power of union leaders: Union leaders relied on three sources of strength, granted under corporatist legislation, in their relations with the member base. The Brazilian corporatist practice of representational monopoly was the foundation of union leaders’ strength and abetted their refusal to negotiate more pragmatically. First, their strong position depended on their power to nominate workers to work-teams (terno) on a rotation basis (rodizio). Thus, unions almost operated like employment agencies, and were sometimes described as ‘union-firms’. Unruly members were unlikely to be called often. As one businessman noted, ‘only he who obeys, works’.28 One of the main reasons that union leaders were so adamant in their opposition to the OGMO (which assumed the responsibility for nominating workers to the terno29) was their fear of losing control over their members.

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