Brazilian Trade Unions' Stance Towards Technological and Organizational Innovations

The article analyzes trade union action that seeks to influence processes of technological and organizational innovation in companies in Brazil. The System for Monitoring Collective Bargaining, under the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Economic Studies (SACC-Dieese), was used to analyze collective bargaining clauses (1990-2005) that deal with innovative processes. Interviews were held with leaders of unions belonging to the SACC-Dieese, seeking to understand what actually occurred following formal agreement to the clauses. We observed that the agreed-upon terms were not enforced in practice, revealing that the trade unions' influence in innovative processes was merely "apparent". The article seeks to demonstrate that the limited success of Brazilian trade unions in affecting technological and organizational innovations has been due not only to external constraints, but also to the unions' own limitations in formulating and interacting with technical and organizational changes.