The establishment of trade congresses, federations and unions, the strikes, and the participation in broader civic movements helped develop a culture of rights among workers.
Their confrontations and bargaining with employers brought to surface the so-called social question, in a process that was initially met with the harshest repression. Little by little, however, the Brazilian government took on a greater role in regulating labor relations and protecting individual and collective workers’ rights.
In any case, the path toward full citizenship has been rough and bumpy. Violence has marked labor relations in Brazil ever since the discovery of
the country, when indigenous and African peoples were enslaved.
Their resistance started to forge the Brazilian working class.
Yet, disrespect for human rights within the scope of work has proved to be highly persistent, even if boldly fought against by militants and public agents. The consolidation of democratic labor relations, whose foundation was laid in the past decades, is essential for eliminating inequality and overcoming impasses in defining the future of the world of labor and of the country itself.