THE INDUSTRY MACROSSECTOR IN BRAZIL:
The contribution of the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) to the creation of a new representation structure.
This master's dissertation proposes to analyze the Industry Macrosector of the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (MSI-CUT), as a response of the union movement to the effects of the neoliberal offensive operated in the 1990s, which restructured the productive processes and the relations between work and capital . As a result of the systemic crisis of capitalism that started in the 1970s, which manifested itself again in 2008 and lasts until the present day, the flexible production system implemented a series of changes in the way of producing in the industry. An increasing number of small companies took the place of the big ones, employing few workers. The flexibilization of forms of contracting work and territorial dispersion were also phenomena of the period. These changes had a strong impact on union action and organization, giving rise to the MSI-CUT.
In order to analyze this hypothesis, in addition to researching primary sources and reviewing the literature, we conducted interviews with some union leaders who were at the forefront of the MSI-CUT construction process. to investigate the positions among the various union leaders about the national economic and industrial policy. The results obtained confirm our initial hypothesis and reveal a movement, still in progress, of integration of the structures of representation of the industrial sector of the CUT, in several spheres of union action, in the search for a new structure of representation of the working class capable of facing the current challenges in the world of work.