Collective bargaining, it is widely claimed, has been on the increase in Brazil since the late 1970s. This is seen as part of a broader change in Brazilian industrial relations towards a hybrid system of interest representation, in which elements of both the old state corporatism and pluralism now coexist. However, there is little or no systematic empirical evidence available to support this conclusion. This thesis addresses the question of the strengthening of collective bargaining as a method of job regulation in Brazil by providing a detailed empirical study. The questions of this study are: (a) how important has collective bargaining become in establishing provisions on the terms and conditions of the employment relationship which are not simply reproducing rules established via state regulation?; and (b) what factors accounted for changes in the content of these provisions? An analysis of 10,734 provisions in 287 collective agreements in manufacturing industries in the Metropolitan Area of Porto Alegre, the capital of the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul, was carried out for the period of 1978-95. This analysis offers support for the thesis that the significance of collective bargaining has increased. It shows that: (a) most substantive provisions created rules that were not established in other forms of regulation; (b) provisions that replicate the contents of regulatory legislation accounted for one out of seven substantive provisions, but in spite of being a copy of the law, these provisions are not entirely neutral for job regulation; (c) collective agreements also laid down substantive provisions benefiting employers, and not simply employees; and (d) the pace of change in bargaining outcomes oscillated with changes in the economic, legal and judicial contexts. This pace of change was mostly affected by (i) the rate of unemployment, (ii) the degree of openness of the economy to foreign competition, (iii) the capacity of employers to pass on costs to costumers, (iv) stabilisation policies aimed at curbing inflation, (v) the Federal Constitution made in 1988, (vi) the official rate of minimum wages, and (vii) the conduct of the labour judicial system in settling collective disputes.

Collective bargaining, it is widely claimed, has been on the increase in Brazil since the late 1970s. This is seen as part of a broader change in Brazilian industrial relations towards a hybrid system of interest representation, in which elements of both the old state corporatism and pluralism now coexist. However, there is little or no systematic empirical evidence available to support this conclusion. This thesis addresses the question of the strengthening of collective bargaining as a method of job regulation in Brazil by providing a detailed empirical study. The questions of this study are: (a) how important has collective bargaining become in establishing provisions on the terms and conditions of the employment relationship which are not simply reproducing rules established via state regulation?; and (b) what factors accounted for changes in the content of these provisions? An analysis of 10,734 provisions in 287 collective agreements in manufacturing industries in the Metropolitan Area of Porto Alegre, the capital of the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul, was carried out for the period of 1978-95. This analysis offers support for the thesis that the significance of collective bargaining has increased. It shows that: (a) most substantive provisions created rules that were not established in other forms of regulation; (b) provisions that replicate the contents of regulatory legislation accounted for one out of seven substantive provisions, but in spite of being a copy of the law, these provisions are not entirely neutral for job regulation; (c) collective agreements also laid down substantive provisions benefiting employers, and not simply employees; and (d) the pace of change in bargaining outcomes oscillated with changes in the economic, legal and judicial contexts. This pace of change was mostly affected by (i) the rate of unemployment, (ii) the degree of openness of the economy to foreign competition, (iii) the capacity of employers to pass on costs to costumers, (iv) stabilisation policies aimed at curbing inflation, (v) the Federal Constitution made in 1988, (vi) the official rate of minimum wages, and (vii) the conduct of the labour judicial system in settling collective disputes.

Collective bargaining, it is widely claimed, has been on the increase in Brazil since the late 1970s. This is seen as part of a broader change in Brazilian industrial relations towards a hybrid system of interest representation, in which elements of both the old state corporatism and pluralism now coexist. However, there is little or no systematic empirical evidence available to support this conclusion. This thesis addresses the question of the strengthening of collective bargaining as a method of job regulation in Brazil by providing a detailed empirical study. The questions of this study are: (a) how important has collective bargaining become in establishing provisions on the terms and conditions of the employment relationship which are not simply reproducing rules established via state regulation?; and (b) what factors accounted for changes in the content of these provisions? An analysis of 10,734 provisions in 287 collective agreements in manufacturing industries in the Metropolitan Area of Porto Alegre, the capital of the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul, was carried out for the period of 1978-95. This analysis offers support for the thesis that the significance of collective bargaining has increased. It shows that: (a) most substantive provisions created rules that were not established in other forms of regulation; (b) provisions that replicate the contents of regulatory legislation accounted for one out of seven substantive provisions, but in spite of being a copy of the law, these provisions are not entirely neutral for job regulation; (c) collective agreements also laid down substantive provisions benefiting employers, and not simply employees; and (d) the pace of change in bargaining outcomes oscillated with changes in the economic, legal and judicial contexts. This pace of change was mostly affected by (i) the rate of unemployment, (ii) the degree of openness of the economy to foreign competition, (iii) the capacity of employers to pass on costs to costumers, (iv) stabilisation policies aimed at curbing inflation, (v) the Federal Constitution made in 1988, (vi) the official rate of minimum wages, and (vii) the conduct of the labour judicial system in settling collective disputes.

O estudo é dedicado à análise da eficácia do reconhecimento das convenções coletivas de trabalho e dos acordos coletivos de trabalho como garantia fundamental diante da outorga constitucional encerrada no inciso XXVI do art. 7º da Constituição Federal. A importância da abordagem construída está na ponderação do status representativo desse destaque na Lei Fundamental como aperfeiçoamento da tríade francesa da liberdade, igualdade e fraternidade (solidariedade), de modo a prevalecer nas relações individuais de trabalho a normatividade incorporada ao ordenamento jurídico por essas fontes de direito, decorrentes do exercício da autonomia privada do cidadão-trabalhador em assembleia participativa e direta. Para tanto, o trabalho percorre um itinerário em três movimentos. O primeiro, mediante abordagem histórica e resgate das motivações jurídicas de modelação da convenção coletiva de trabalho, em curso espaço de tempo igualmente designada por contrato coletivo de trabalho, e dos movimentos associativo-sindicais. No segundo, a inicial definição de premissas válidas relativas aos direitos fundamentais permissiva, por consequência, permissivas da catalogação constitucional do direito ao trabalho e das garantias constantes no art. 7º da Constituição Federal. O terceiro e último, com enfoque centrado na irradiação de eficácia e repercussão nas relações de trabalho dos convênios coletivos de trabalho nas relações individuais de trabalho em prevalência à lei. / This study intentd analyzing the effectiveness of the recognition of collective labor conventions and collective bargaining agreements as a fundamental guarantee before the Constitutional granting assured by Article 7, line XXVI of the Brazilian Federal Constitution. The importance of the built approach is in taking account the representative status about this emphasis in the Basic Law as an improvement of the French slogans: freedom, equality and brotherhood (solidarity), in order for prevail in the individual employment relationships the regulations incorporated into the legal system by these source of laws, resulting from the exercise of the citizen (workers) private autonomy in Shareholders. To do so, three approaches were employed: the first, by historical approach and surrenders the legal motives of the Collective Labor Convention deployment, in short period of time also referred to as collective employment contract, and the associative movement. In the second, the start definition of valid premises report on fundamental rights permissive, as a result, of the constitutional cataloguing of the right to work and the guarantees contained in the Article 7 of the Brazilian Federal Constitution. The third and final point focusing on irradiation of the efficiency and repercussion in the work relationships of the collective labor agreements in the individual employment relations prevails over the law.

O estudo é dedicado à análise da eficácia do reconhecimento das convenções coletivas de trabalho e dos acordos coletivos de trabalho como garantia fundamental diante da outorga constitucional encerrada no inciso XXVI do art. 7º da Constituição Federal. A importância da abordagem construída está na ponderação do status representativo desse destaque na Lei Fundamental como aperfeiçoamento da tríade francesa da liberdade, igualdade e fraternidade (solidariedade), de modo a prevalecer nas relações individuais de trabalho a normatividade incorporada ao ordenamento jurídico por essas fontes de direito, decorrentes do exercício da autonomia privada do cidadão-trabalhador em assembleia participativa e direta. Para tanto, o trabalho percorre um itinerário em três movimentos. O primeiro, mediante abordagem histórica e resgate das motivações jurídicas de modelação da convenção coletiva de trabalho, em curso espaço de tempo igualmente designada por contrato coletivo de trabalho, e dos movimentos associativo-sindicais. No segundo, a inicial definição de premissas válidas relativas aos direitos fundamentais permissiva, por consequência, permissivas da catalogação constitucional do direito ao trabalho e das garantias constantes no art. 7º da Constituição Federal. O terceiro e último, com enfoque centrado na irradiação de eficácia e repercussão nas relações de trabalho dos convênios coletivos de trabalho nas relações individuais de trabalho em prevalência à lei. / This study intentd analyzing the effectiveness of the recognition of collective labor conventions and collective bargaining agreements as a fundamental guarantee before the Constitutional granting assured by Article 7, line XXVI of the Brazilian Federal Constitution. The importance of the built approach is in taking account the representative status about this emphasis in the Basic Law as an improvement of the French slogans: freedom, equality and brotherhood (solidarity), in order for prevail in the individual employment relationships the regulations incorporated into the legal system by these source of laws, resulting from the exercise of the citizen (workers) private autonomy in Shareholders. To do so, three approaches were employed: the first, by historical approach and surrenders the legal motives of the Collective Labor Convention deployment, in short period of time also referred to as collective employment contract, and the associative movement. In the second, the start definition of valid premises report on fundamental rights permissive, as a result, of the constitutional cataloguing of the right to work and the guarantees contained in the Article 7 of the Brazilian Federal Constitution. The third and final point focusing on irradiation of the efficiency and repercussion in the work relationships of the collective labor agreements in the individual employment relations prevails over the law.