By JORGE LUIZ SOUTO MAIOR*
It is inconceivable that the Centrals have united to defend the institutions, especially the STF, which has offered itself to the market to be the protagonist of the destruction of the Federal Constitution.
In two days (October 13th and 14th), some union centers, not exactly the same ones, released two notes: one, in defense of a Minister of the STF (see here), against the attacks it has been suffering from “digital militias”, as the note says; and another (see here), in defense of the STF itself (see here), against the initiatives that are being processed in the Chamber of Deputies to: (a) grant amnesty to the coup plotters of January 08, 2023; (b) limit the monocratic decisions of the Supreme Court Ministers; (c) allow the suspension of STF decisions by the National Congress; and (d) facilitate the impeachment of STF Ministers.
The initiatives being processed in Congress certainly constitute, simply by existing, serious attacks on the legal order and the Democratic Rule of Law.
The issue is that democratic institutions, including and above all the STF itself, have been, with their neoliberal ideological discourse, prioritizing economic interests, notably international ones, and, with this, excluding the working class from the state social protection network.
Remember that, in terms of workers' rights, our recent historical context was that of the approval of the labor "reform", which, among other effects: made it difficult for unions to act; created mechanisms to increase the length of the working day; facilitated the collective dismissal of workers; expanded outsourcing; created intermittent work; sought to impede access to the Labor Court, etc., and several of these legal setbacks were validated by the STF, in particular, the expansion of outsourcing and the validation of negotiations over legislation.
Subsequently, we experienced the horrors of the pandemic and the initiatives of the government at the time that were aimed at protecting economic interests by deepening forms of labor exploitation and, consequently, the suffering of workers, even resulting in thousands of lost lives.
The Provisional Measures issued by the government provided for an extension of the working day, when the ideal would be exactly the opposite, and even the suspension of state activities to monitor the application of health and safety standards at work.
All of this was done, once again, with the support of the Supreme Federal Court, which, even in the face of the genocide committed against the working class, did not react, except when formally urged and in extreme situations, such as that presented in the decision handed down in ADI 6342, which ended up suspending the effectiveness of article 29 of Provisional Measure 927/2020, which absurdly provided that: “Cases of contamination by coronavirus (Covid-19) will not be considered occupational, except upon proof of a causal link”.
The labor “reform”, in violation of the Federal Constitution, with the support of the STF (and even the Labor Court) continued to be applied and deepened during the pandemic, without any rejection from the institutions.
More recently, the STF, after issuing, during debates on specific cases, numerous explicit offenses to labor rights, unions, the Labor Court and the Labor Prosecutor's Office, began a new escalation of retraction of labor rights, either by reducing the authority and jurisdiction of the Labor Court, or by altering the basic theoretical premise of Labor Law itself, to override the principles of protection, the primacy of reality and the progressive improvement of the social condition of workers, such "principles" of free enterprise and freedom of competition, which are not stated in any constitutional precept, in order to privilege business interests.
And so it has acted without any support from the Federal Constitution, thus affronting the Democratic Rule of Law.
As if that were not enough, on September 30th, the National Council of Justice (CNJ), overcoming all the constraints of the Democratic State of Law constitutionally enshrined, issued Resolution 586, which establishes a judicial procedure for the approval of out-of-court agreements in the Labor Court, in order to validate the “broad, general and irrevocable settlement” clause contained in these adjustments, in order to, according to the author of the idea, Luís Roberto Barroso, solve the “problem” of the high number of labor complaints in Brazil, which hinder business and drive away investments.
The Unions did not repudiate the initiative of the National Council of Justice; they did not denounce the breach of institutionality and the affronts promoted by the STF to constitutionally guaranteed labor rights; they did not rebel against the silence of the STF and other democratic institutions in the face of the necropolitics adopted by the government of Jair Bolsonaro; they did not mobilize with all the force they could against the approval of the labor “reform” and, even now, they are not demanding that the Lula government immediately and completely repeal Law No. 13.467/17. Quite the contrary, they have shown themselves to be in favor of an initiative by the government to legitimize the precariousness of work, starting with delivery workers.
Within this historical context, no matter how correct the arguments against the initiatives presented in the National Congress, mentioned above, are, it is inconceivable that the Centrals have united to defend the institutions, especially the STF, which, as seen, since the revealing speech of Minister Marco Aurélio, in 2016, has offered itself to the market to be the protagonist of the destruction of the Federal Constitution and the democratic order in everything that directly affects the working class.
Furthermore, if the separation and harmonious and independent relationship between the powers of the Republic are essential to democracy, social organizations are equally important in advancing the demands of the working class in general. Trade unions, in particular, as a fundamental element of democracy, play the role of promoting the defense of workers, especially because one cannot speak of a “Democratic State, designed to ensure the exercise of social and individual rights, freedom, security, well-being, development, equality and justice as supreme values of a fraternal, pluralistic and unprejudiced society”, as projected in the Federal Constitution, without the implementation of labor and social rights.
What was to be expected – and is still expected – is that they would promote self-criticism, notably regarding the links maintained with the restricted and merely electoral objectives of a political party that does not have a project for the country tied to the primacy of the immediate and future interests of the working class, that they would express, loudly and clearly, their indignation against the actions of the STF (and its Ministers) in labor matters and that they would call on the working class to take collective and organized political action to, finally and concretely, fight against all these attacks recently suffered and to reverse all the defeats experienced.
It is urgent to reflect on what this explicit support given by the Central Unions to institutions and figures who, disregarding constitutional precepts and the democratic order, have taken on the task of positioning themselves as spokespeople for neoliberal worldviews, represents politically.
This association not only strengthens and “legitimizes” the movement to destroy the labor legal protection network, but also further distances the working class from union organizations, since, paraphrasing Vladimir Saflate (https://noticias.uol.com.br/eleicoes/2024/10/13/entrevista-vladimir-safatle-eleicoes-esquerda.htm), they seem to have nothing to say to the workers.
Without the resumption of utopias around a different, truly inclusive and egalitarian sociability being a priority on the agenda of the left and of social and union movements, and without effective mobilizations and struggles against social degradation and for better living and working conditions being promoted, overcoming class fragmentation and racial and gender violence created and fueled by capital, workers, pressured by the need to fight alone (and against each other) for survival, end up not identifying with the actions and discourses promoted by union organizations and so-called left-wing governments that, in essence, only manage the interests of capital.
In the absence of a political and organizational movement that makes explicit its convictions and practical actions around the radical defense of the interests of the working class or, worse, in the face of the explicit demonstration that entities historically linked to labor struggles are associating themselves with the executioners of labor rights (which is what the notes in question reveal), workers become easy prey to the rhetoric of entrepreneurship, which, taking on the discourse of radicalism and denunciation of false promises made by a bureaucratized State still marked by pork barrel politics, favoritism and cronyism, promises inclusion, freedom and financial autonomy.
This context is what has facilitated, as can be seen from the overall result of the last municipal election and in the reality of social relations itself, the path towards conservatism, fascism, intolerance, social violence and hatred.
And when President Lula, realizing this form of electoral co-optation carried out by conservative rhetoric, takes upon himself the appeal to entrepreneurship (https://iclnoticias.com.br/lula-fala-em-trabalho-menos-carteira-assinada/), trying with this, perhaps, to garner more votes for his party, what he achieves is only to turn the left, at least that represented by Lulaism, into a movement absolutely identical to the right and, even, the far right.
The fact is that the lack of an effective and radical commitment to the concrete needs of the working class is bequeathing us the rise of fascism, even if, in this context, the void is filled with discourse defending “democracy”.
*Jorge Luiz Souto Maior is a professor of labor law at the Faculty of Law at USP. Author, among other books, of Moral damage in employment relationships (Studio editors) [https://amzn.to/3LLdUnz]
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