Getulio Vargas he was the ruler who made labor policy a form of social and political control. model inspired fascist ItalianVargas sought to control the mass of urban workers, especially those linked to the then growing industrialization of the country, through labor legislation, such as the CLT (Consolidation of laws in Work – or the Work laws), decreed on May 1, 1943.
► Labor Policies in the Vargas Era
One of the main features of It was Vargas (1930-1945) was the promotion of structural transformations in the economic sector, with investment in basic industries, such as steel, metallurgy and the energy sector. As a political-social measure to accompany this characteristic in the economic sphere, Vargas prioritized the issue of legislation related to work. The objective was twofold, as demonstrated by historians Heloisa Starling and Lilia Schwarcz:
In one (part of the proposal), (Vargas) created laws to protect workers – an eight-hour day, regulation of women’s and minors’ work; vacation law, institution of the work card and the right to pensions and retirement. In the other, he repressed any effort to organize workers outside the control of the state – he stifled, with particular violence, the action of the communists. To top it all off, it ended autonomous unionism, framed unions as collaborating bodies with the State and excluded rural workers from accessing the benefits of labor protection legislation.
The inspiration for Vargas’s measures came from the corporate state model developed by the leader of Italian fascism, Benito Mussolini. It was with Job Letter (Carta del Lavoro), in 1927, that Mussolini managed to control the workers’ unions and keep out the possibility of an insurgency with a communist or anarchist bias – very frequent in Italy at the beginning of the 20th century. The Carta do Trabalho influenced not only Brazil, but also Turkey and Portugal.
► Decree-Law No. 5.452, of May 1, 1943
Don’t stop now… There’s more after the publicity 😉
The key document that put all the labor rules into effect was Decree-Law No. 5.452, of May 1, 1943, which approved the Consolidation of Labor Laws. This decree-law had 922 articles and was signed by Getúlio Vargas and his Minister of Labor, Industry and Commerce, Alexandre Marcondes Machado Filho. To exemplify the scope of the CLT in the scope of workers’ lives, see article 60, which deals with cases of unhealthy activity:
In unhealthy activities, such as those contained in the tables mentioned in the chapter on “Hygiene and Safety at Work”, or that may be included in them by act of the Minister of Labor, Industry and Commerce, any extensions can only be agreed with prior permission from the competent authorities in matters of occupational hygiene, which, for this purpose, will carry out the necessary local examinations and verification of work methods and processes, either through federal, state and municipal health authorities, with whom they will enter into an agreement for such end.
It should be noted that other measures new state began to implement in order to reinforce control over the mass of workers. Among these measures were the great celebrations of Labor Day, on May 1st – the same day as the CLT decree-law – and the exaltation of the Vargas regime through radio and cinema.
GRADES
Schawrcz, Lilia M. and Starling, Heloisa M. Brazil: A Biography. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2015. p. 322. p. 362.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes