From social activism to the revitalization of the Rio Grande Naval and Offshore Pole Metallurgists Union

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to reconstruct the union revitalization process, which took place between 2012 and 2017, due to the intense and fast expansion of the category of metallurgists in the Naval and Offshore Pole of Rio Grande. This process was marked by intense struggles between workers and the union, due to the previous existence of social activism on the part of workers. The methodology used consisted of conducting interviews with union leaders, workers, consulting the material made available by the union and bibliographic review regarding the proposed outline. Through the theoretical approach of class building as a “making oneself” in the shared experience, we followed the main moments of union revitalization and the conflicts with its base, which partially obliterated its legitimate representation around the institutionalized union. We understand that class consciousness, in the terms discussed here, was reconciled with movement unionism at the beginning of the Polo crisis, even so this moment was important for the legitimization of agendas around unemployment. However, in view of the dismantling of the shipbuilding industry, the union saw its base erode and, since then, it has worked with small companies, which guarantee a minimum level of experience acquired from union organization for future or probable enterprises in the municipality.