RURAL WAGE LABOR AND UNION REPRESENTATION IN THE BRAZILIAN PAMPA

Aline Schmidt San Martin; Davide Carbonai

Todos os Trabalhos

Trabalho

DOI

10.29327/9786527226680.1441432

Título do Trabalho

RURAL WAGE LABOR AND UNION REPRESENTATION IN THE BRAZILIAN PAMPA

Autores

Aline Schmidt San Martin
Davide Carbonai

Modalidade

IRSA - Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (01/10/2025 a 20/01/2026)

Área temática

IRSA 20 - Capitalist forestry, rural labor, and land injustices: towards a comparative analysis of the role of forests and tree plantations in contemporary land questions, agrarian questions and rural development

Data de Publicação

06/08/2026

País da Publicação

Brasil

Idioma da Publicação

pt-BR

Página do Trabalho

https://www.even3.com.br/anais/sober-irsa2026/1441432-rural-wage-labor-and-union-representation-in-the-brazilian-pampa

ISBN

978-65-272-2668-0

Palavras-Chave

Rural wage labor, trade unions, collective action, Pampa biome, Brazil.

Resumo

This article examines the relationship between rural wage laborers in extensive livestock farming and their union representation in the Brazilian Pampa, considering recent transformations in the regional agricultural matrix. Historically marked by beef cattle farming in native pastures, the region has experienced significant changes with the expansion of soy, forestry, and more business-oriented forms of productive organization, which has redefined land use, the rural labor market, and labor relations. Although labor legislation formally guarantees collective rights, labor relations remain mediated by personal ties, traditional authority, and weak institutional action, now strained by processes of productive restructuring and job losses in livestock farming. Based on eighteen semi-structured interviews conducted in Sant’Ana do Livramento (Rio Grande do Sul), the study adopts a qualitative approach inspired by ethnography, using thematic analysis to examine workers' perceptions of unions and collective action. The results indicate that the institutional invisibility of unions, fear of retaliation, distrust of their actions, and the fragmentation of collective identity operate in an articulated manner, being intensified by job insecurity resulting from productive changes. These factors weaken class solidarity and limit the collective mobilization of rural workers. The article contributes to rural sociology and organizational studies by highlighting how productive transformations, territorial isolation, symbolic traditions, and institutional fragility interact in the reproduction of asymmetrical labor relations in contemporary pastoral contexts.

Título do Evento: 16th World Congress of Rural Sociology and 64th Congress of the Brazilian Society of Rural Economics, Management and Sociology
Cidade do Evento: Porto Alegre
Título dos Anais do Evento: Anais do 64º Congresso da SOBER e XVI Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (IRSA)
Nome da Editora: Even3
Meio de Divulgação: Meio Digital
DOI

Como citar

MARTIN, Aline Schmidt San; CARBONAI, Davide. RURAL WAGE LABOR AND UNION REPRESENTATION IN THE BRAZILIAN PAMPA.. In: Anais do 64º Congresso da SOBER e XVI Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (IRSA). Anais...Porto Alegre(RS) UFRGS, 2026. Disponível em: https//www.even3.com.br/anais/sober-irsa2026/1441432-RURAL-WAGE-LABOR-AND-UNION-REPRESENTATION-IN-THE-BRAZILIAN-PAMPA. Acesso em: 22/09/2026