Labour Relations and Industrial Performance in Brazil Greater São Paulo, 1945-60 Renato Colistete colistete/95619/crc 25/4/01 1:52 pm Page 1 St Antony’s Series General Editor: Richard Clogg(1999– ), Fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford Recent titles include: Louise Haagh CITIZENSHIP, LABOUR MARKETS AND DEMOCRATIZATION Chile and the Modern Sequence Renato Colistete LABOUR RELATIONS AND INDUSTRIAL PERFORMANCE IN BRAZIL Greater São Paulo, 1945–1960 Peter Lienhardt (edited by Ahmed Al-Shahi) SHAIKHDOMS OF EASTERN ARABIA John Crabtree and Laurence Whitehead (editors) TOWARDS DEMOCRATIC VIABILITY The Bolivian Experience Steve Tsang (editor) JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE AND THE RULE OF LAW IN HONG KONG Karen Jochelson THE COLOUR OF DISEASE Syphilis and Racism in South Africa, 1880–1950 Julio Crespo MacLennan SPAIN AND THE PROCESS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION, 1957–85 Enrique Cárdenas, José Antonio Ocampo and Rosemary Thorp (editors) AN ECONOMIC HISTORY OF TWENTIETH-CENTURY LATIN AMERICA Volume 1: The Export Age Volume 2: Latin America in the 1930s Volume 3: Industrialization and the State in Latin America Jennifer G. Mathers THE RUSSIAN NUCLEAR SHIELD FROM STALIN TO YELTSIN Marta Dyczok THE GRAND ALLIANCE AND UKRAINIAN REFUGEES Mark Brzezinski THE STRUGGLE FOR CONSTITUTIONALISM IN POLAND Suke Wolton LORD HAILEY, THE COLONIAL OFFICE AND THE POLITICS OF RACE AND EMPIRE IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR The Loss of White Prestige Junko Tomaru THE POSTWAR RAPPROCHEMENT OF MALAYA AND JAPAN, 1945–61 The Roles of Britain and Japan in South-East Asia colistete/95619/crc 25/4/01 1:52 pm Page 2 Eiichi Motono CONFLICT AND COOPERATION IN SINO-BRITISH BUSINESS, 1860–1911 The Impact of the Pro-British Commercial Network in Shanghai Nikolas K. Gvosdev IMPERIAL POLICIES AND PERSPECTIVES TOWARDS GEORGIA, 1760–1819 Bernardo Kosacoff CORPORATE STRATEGIES UNDER STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT IN ARGENTINA Responses by Industrial Firms to a New Set of Uncertainties Ray Takeyh THE ORIGINS OF THE EISENHOWER DOCTRINE The US, Britain and Nasser’s Egypt, 1953–57 Derek Hopwood (editor) ARAB NATION, ARAB NATIONALISM Judith Clifton THE POLITICS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS IN MEXICO Privatization and State–Labour Relations, 1928–95 Cécile Laborde PLURALIST THOUGHT AND THE STATE IN BRITAIN AND FRANCE, 1900–25 Craig Brandist and Galin Tihanov (editors) MATERIALIZING BAKHTIN C. S. Nicholls THE HISTORY OF ST ANTONY’S COLLEGE, OXFORD, 1950–2000 Anthony Kirk-Greene BRITAIN’S IMPERIAL ADMINISTRATORS, 1858–1966 Laila Parsons THE DRUZE BETWEEN PALESTINE AND ISRAEL, 1947–49 St Antony’s Series Series Standing Order ISBN 0–333–71109–2 (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England colistete/95619/crc 25/4/01 1:52 pm Page 3 Labour Relations and Industrial Performance in Brazil Greater São Paulo, 1945–60 Renato Colistete Assistant Professor Department of Economics Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) Brazil in association with St Antony’s College, Oxford colistete/95619/crc 25/4/01 1:52 pm Page 4 © Renato Colistete 2001 All rights reserved.No reproduction,copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced,copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,90 Tottenham Court Road,London W1P 0LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2001 by PALGRAVE Houndmills,Basingstoke,Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue,New York,N.Y.10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVEis the new global academic imprint of St.Martin’s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 0–333–94924–2 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Colistete,Renato. Labour relations and industrial performance in Brazil :greater Sao Paulo,1945–1960 p.cm.— (St.Antony’s series) Originally presented as the author’s thesis. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–333–94924–2 1.Industrial productivity—Brazil—São Paulo Metropolitan Area—History.2.Industrial efficiency—Brazil—São Paulo Metropolitan Area—History.3.Industrial relations—Brazil– –São Paulo Metropolitan Area—History.4.Metalworking industries—Brazil—São Paulo Metropolitan Area—History. 5.Textile industry—Brazil—São Paulo Metropolitan Area– –History.I.Title:Labour relations and industrial performance in Brazil.II.Title.III.Series. HC189.S33 C64 2001 331’.0981—dc21 00–069601 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 Printed in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd,Chippenham,Wiltshire To my parents Contents List of Figures xi List of Tables xiii List of Abbreviations xv Acknowledgements xix Preface xxi PART I THE INDUSTRIAL WORKFORCE AND THE LABOUR MARKETS 1 The Structure of the Labour Markets 3 Industrial employment 3 Workforce growth 4 Industries, cities and employment 5 Employment in selected cases 9 Composition of the workforce 11 Skills 12 Women workers 15 The young workforce 19 Skills in selected cases 20 Wages 22 Wage structure 22 Wage systems and determination 25 Wages and internal division of the workforce 26 2 Shaping the Labour Markets 33 Industrialists and the National Service for Industrial Training (SENAI) 34 The industrial training system – SENAI 35 Programmes and problems of industrial training 37 Scarcity, migration and quality of workforce 41 The politics of wage bargaining 45 Workplace and wage bargaining 46 Institutions, political groups and wage bargaining 54 vii viii Contents PART II WORKING CONDITIONS 3 The Factory Environment 65 Medical and hygiene facilities 66 Sector conditions 66 Medical and hygiene facilities in individual cases 69 Occupational health hazards 71 Environmental conditions in the textile sector 71 Environmental conditions in the metalworking sector 74 Industrial safety and accidents 80 Sector conditions 80 Accidents and injuries in individual cases 81 Welfare facilities 84 Sector comparisons 84 Welfare facilities in individual cases 86 Hours of work 87 4 Shaping the Factory Environment 93 Legislation and labour rights 93 Origins and enforcement of the labour laws 94 Perspectives on labour rights 96 Industrialists and the Social Service of Industry (SESI) 99 Post-Second World War conflicts and the creation of SESI 99 Welfare and industrial hygiene programmes 103 Workers and the struggle over factory conditions 108 Workers’ shop floor organisation and factory conditions 108 Trade unions, political groups and the struggle over labour rights 113 PART III INDUSTRIAL PERFORMANCE 5 Industrial Capabilities 121 Technical capability 122 The machine-tool industry 122 The vehicle parts industry 125 The motor vehicle industry 128 The textile industry 132 The organisation of work 134 The mechanical industry 135 The electrical equipment industry 136 Contents ix The transport equipment industry 137 The textile industry 139 Productivity 141 Productivity performance 141 Sources of productivity growth 150 6 The Political Economy of Productivity Performance 153 Interpreting productivity 154 Interpreting the causes of low productivity 154 Productivity in the context of the Cold War 160 The politics of productivity 164 Productivity bargaining in the workplace 164 Political economy, productivity and protectionism 174 7 Conclusions 183 Appendix A: Basic Economic and Labour Statistics 186 Appendix B: Factory Conditions in São Paulo 193 Notes 194 Bibliography 210 Index 222