Conceptions, closeness and distance of professors in relation to the Trade Union Movement

The objective of this study is to analyze the process of closeness and distance of professors from the trade union movement, particularly in the case of union leaders from Federal University of Amapa Professors Trade Union (SINDUFAP), Trade Union Section of the National Union of Professors of Institutions of Higher Education (ANDES-SN), highlighting the syndicate conception that they defend in the context of transformations implemented by neoliberal governments in Brazil. The research is classified as a field research, with an exploratory nature. The subjects who participated in the research were professors who worked in the executive direction of the trade union from 1994 to 2018. It can be said that the problems imposed on trade unionism, as well as the motivations for closeness and distance are articulated with the broader issues of neoliberal policies implemented at national level which have negative consequences which need to be reflected about the limits (and possibilities) of trade unionism in general. In the core of the motivations to closeness and distance of the trade union are the conceptions of society, university and syndicate defended by the cited professors, even though other internal questions from the organizational issues need to be addressed.