Brazilian labor reform in the dynamics of economy and its impacts on the public regulation of labor: a compared dialog with ongoing reform in Argentina

Abstract

In this essay, we discuss the senses of Brazilian “labor reform”, in vigour since November, 2017. We propose a dialog with ongoing reform in Argentina, seeking to demonstrate the fallacy of argues from its defenders. In this scenery, we also broach certain aspects of Brazilian reform and its impacts on the regulation system that includes public institutions, such as Labor Court. We also highlight the action of certain social actors face to the attack against rights hardly achieved in their strategies of resistance. Therefore, in attempt to bring to debate elements about the relevance of a public system of protection that must contribute to the construction of a less unequal society, we broach the economical context of liberalizing reforms in two countries from Latin America: Brazil and Argentina. We make evident the fallacy of the thesis that, face to current development of capitalism, the reform would be something “irreversible” toward the progress and achievement of individual autonomy (BELUZZO, 2013). We discourse about the meaning of these reforms and highlight some aspects that evidence the attempt to weaken public regulation, the role of institutions that act in the world of work and trade union organizations. Lastly, after some considerations on the impacts of the reforms on the collective bargaining and on the strategies of certain social actors in the construction of resistance paths, we reach the final considerations.