Central Única dos Trabalhadores (), commonly known by the acronym CUT, is the main

national trade union center Organizers within trade unions have sought to increase the bargaining power of workers in regards to collective bargaining by acting in collaboration with other trade unions. Multi-union organizing can take place on an informal basis, or on ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

History

CUT was formed on 28 August 1983 in

São Bernardo do Campo São Bernardo do Campo () is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of São Paulo. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 810,729 (2022 census) in an area of . According to 2021 data from ...

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, during the First National Congress of the Working Class. Alongside the

Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...

(PT) and the

Landless Workers' Movement The Landless Workers' Movement (, MST) is a social movement in Brazil aimed at land reform. Inspired by Marxism, it is the largest such movement in Latin America, with an estimated informal membership of 1.5 million across 23 of Brazil's 26 sta ...

(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) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

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 is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

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

corporatist Corporatism is an ideology and political system of interest representation and policymaking whereby corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, come together and negotiate contracts ...

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

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic and 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-mana ...

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 until his suicide in 1954. Due to his long and contr ...

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'' of

Fascist Italy Fascist Italy () is a term which is used in historiography to describe the Kingdom of Italy between 1922 and 1943, when Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. Th ...

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 Mononym, mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist and former metalworker who has served as the 39th president of Brazil since 2023. A mem ...

, 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, ). 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 (, PSTU) is a Trotskyist party in Brazil. It is the largest section of the International Workers' League (Fourth International) (LIT), an international body of groups in the Morenoist tradition. History E ...

(PSTU) and the

Socialism and Liberty Party The Socialism and Liberty Party (, ; PSOL ) is a left-wing political party in Brazil. The party describes itself as socialist and democratic. The party leader is Paula Coradi and the federal deputies Ivan Valente, Talíria Petrone, Sâmi ...

(PSOL) – dissidences of PT themselves – than PT. The following year, leaders tied to PSOL and the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) formed the Instrumento de Luta e Organização da Classe Trabalhadora (Intersindical, ) and, in 2007, leaders linked to the

Communist Party of Brazil The Communist Party of Brazil (, PCdoB) is a List of political parties in Brazil, 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, ).

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 International Trade Union Confederation National trade union centers of Brazil Organisations based in São Paulo Progressive International Trade unions established in 1983