Central Única dos Trabalhadores ( en, Unified Workers' Central), commonly known by the acronym CUT, is the main

national trade union center A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national trade union center, and many have more than one. In some regions, such a ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

History

CUT was formed on 28 August 1983 in São Bernardo do Campo,

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

, during the First National Congress of the Working Class. Alongside the Workers' Party (PT) and the

Landless Workers' Movement Landless Workers' Movement ( pt, Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, MST) is a social movement in Brazil, inspired by Marxism, generally regarded as one of the largest in Latin America with an estimated informal membership of 1.5 millio ...

(MST), CUT was one of the key organizations to challenge the military rule of 1964–1985 during its final stages, organizing

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

s in automobile factories located in the ABC Region. Nowadays, CUT is the largest and most important trade union federation in Brazil, representing over 7.4 million workers in all productive areas. It is also the largest trade union center in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

and the fifth largest in the world. Nevertheless, it continues to face obstacles because of

corporatist Corporatism is a Collectivism and individualism, collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by Corporate group (sociology), corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guil ...

laws that curb the workers' rights to organize. CUT generally supports a

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within ...

political ideology and is close to PT and its leaders, many of which had been union leaders in the past. CUT was organized to oppose the so-called "old labour movement", associated with the late President

Getúlio Vargas Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...

and his Brazilian Labour Party (PTB). The main practice of ''varguismo'' and its leaders was to try to integrate trade unions and the Ministry of Labor, once the President had based his policy for the area using the ''

Carta del Lavoro Carta is Latin and Italian for "paper" and is Spanish and Portuguese " letter". In English it takes the form " card" or "chart". Most of its uses pertain to its meaning as "paper", "chart", or "map", for example in ''Magna Carta''. Carta may ref ...

'' of Fascist Italy as a role model. CUT arose as an alternative to this model, claiming to be part of the "new labour movement", independent from the federal government. However, its close ties with PT made CUT a source of criticism after

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party ...

, PT's most prominent member, took office as President. In March 2004, some union leaders unsatisfied with the organization's close ties with the Lula administration split from CUT in order to form the Coordenação Nacional de Lutas (Conlutas, en, National Coordination of Struggles). Conlutas represents between 30 and 40 percent of the CUT leadership, and it is closer to the

United Socialist Workers' Party The United Socialist Workers' Party ( pt, Partido Socialista dos Trabalhadores Unificado, PSTU) is a Trotskyist party in Brazil. It is the largest section of the International Workers' League (Fourth International) (LIT), an international body ...

(PSTU) and the

Socialism and Liberty Party The Socialism and Liberty Party ( pt-BR, Partido Socialismo e Liberdade , PSOL ) is a left-wing political party in Brazil. The party describes itself as socialist and democratic. The party leader is Juliano Medeiros and the federal deputies I ...

(PSOL) – dissidences of PT themselves – than PT. The following year, leaders tied to PSOL and the

Brazilian Communist Party The Brazilian Communist Party ( pt-BR, Partido Comunista Brasileiro), originally the Communist Party of Brazil (), is a communist party in Brazil founded on 25 March 1922 which makes the disputed claim of being the oldest political party sti ...

(PCB) formed the Instrumento de Luta e Organização da Classe Trabalhadora (Intersindical, en, Instrument of Struggle and Organisation of the Working Class) and, in 2007, leaders linked to the

Communist Party of Brazil The Communist Party of Brazil ( pt-BR, Partido Comunista do Brasil, PCdoB) is a political party in Brazil. The PCdoB officially adheres to Marxist–Leninist theory. It has national reach and deep penetration in the trade union and student ...

(PCdoB) formed the Central dos Trabalhadores e Trabalhadoras do Brasil (CTB, en, Central of Male and Female Workers of Brazil).

Affiliates

The following federations are affiliated to CUT:

Leadership

Presidents

:1983: Jair Meneguelli :1994: Vicente Paulo da Silva :2000: João Felicio :2003: Luiz Marinho :2005: João Felicio :2006: Artur Henrique da Silva Santos :2012: Vagner Freitas :2019: Sérgio Nobre

General Secretaries

:1983: Paulo Paim :Gilmar Carneiro :1997: João Antonio Felicio :2000: Carlos Alberto Grana :2003: João Antonio Felicio :2005: Artur Henrique da Silva Santos :2006: Quintino Severo :2012: Sérgio Nobre :2019: Carmen Foro

References

Sources

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Central Unica dos Trabalhadores Trade unions in Brazil International Trade Union Confederation

Trade unions established in 1983 Organisations based in São Paulo