Abstract
Faced with economic crisis, a rightward political shift, and flexible pro-employer labor reforms, commercial worker unions representing Walmart workers fought to limit real wage losses; to institutionalize in collective bargaining agreements limits on the reach of new national legal norms; to achieve results sharing agreements with the company; and to grope for organizational survival with the sudden abolition of the “union tax.” Individual and collective legal claims continued, with Walmart the most sued among large supermarket companies due to its repressive familial workplace regime and paying a hefty price in damages. “Institutional layering” captures how the enactment of national legal norms was mediated through struggles around the interpretation and “defanging” of anti-labor reforms in local practice, as a complex mixture of new and old emerged.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
ABRAS (Associação Brasileira de Supermercados). 2018. “Setor Supermercadista Fatura R$ 353,2 Bilhoes em 2017.” March 19. https://www.abras.com.br/clipping.php?area=20&clipping=63952. Accessed August 28, 2020.
Agência IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistísticas). 2020. “PAC: Supermercados Lideraram Receita e Geração de Empregos em 2018.” July 9. https://agenciadenoticias.ibge.gov.br/agencia-noticias/2012-agencia-de-noticias/noticias/28075-supermercados-lideraram-receita-e-geracao-de-empregos-em-2018. Accessed August 28, 2020.
Carré, Françoise and Chris Tilly. 2017. Where Bad Jobs Are Better: Retails Jobs Across Countries and Companies. New York: Russell Sage.
Consultor Jurídico. 2020. “Queda nas Reclamações Trabalhistas se Estabilizou nos 30%, diz Peduzzi.” April 4. https://www.conjur.com.br/2020-abr-04/queda-acoes-trabalhistas-estabilizou-30-peduzzi. Accessed September 2, 2020.
Departamento Intersindical de Estatísticas e Estudos Sôcioeconômicos (DIEESE). 2016. “Comércio em 2015: Um Balanço dos Principais Indicadores.” Boletim de Indicadores do Comércio 8 (May). https://www.dieese.org.br/boletimindicadoresdocomercio/2015/boletimIndicadoresComercio08.html. Accessed August 24, 2020.
———. 2017a. “Impactos da Lei 13.429/2017 (Antigo PL 4.302/1998) para os Trabalhadores. Contrato de Trabalho Temporário e Terceirização.” Nota Técnica 175 (April). https://www.dieese.org.br/notatecnica/2017/notaTec175TerceirizacaoTrabalhoTemporario.pdf. Accessed August 23, 2020.
———. 2017b. “Balanço das Greves de 2016.” Estudos e Pesquisas 84 (August). https://www.dieese.org.br/balancodasgreves/2016/estPesq84balancogreves2016.pdf. Accessed August 25, 2020.
———. 2018a. “Balanço das Greves de 2017.” Estudos e Pesquisas 87 (September). https://www.dieese.org.br/balancodasgreves/2017/estPesq87balancoGreves2017.pdf. Accessed August 25, 2020.
—–—. 2018b. “Balanço das Negociações dos Reajustes Salariais de 2017.” Estudos e Pesquisas, June. https://www.dieese.org.br/balancodosreajustes/2018/estPes86BalancoReajuste2017.html. Accessed August 24, 2020.
———. 2019a. “Balanço das Greves de 2018.” Estudos e Pesquisas 79 (August).
———. 2019b. “Balanço das Negociações dos Reajustes Salariais de 2018.” Estudos e Pesquisas 90 (August). https://www.dieese.org.br/balancodosreajustes/2018/estPesq90BalancoReajuste2018.pdf. Accessed August 25, 2020.
Fernandes, João Renda Leal. 2017. “Labor Law, CLT, and the 2017 Brazilian Labor Reform.” Panorama of Brazilian Law 5 (7/8): 210–242. https://doi.org/10.17768/pbl.a5.n7-8.p210.
International Labour Office (ILO). 2006. “Strategies and Practice for Labour Inspection.” Geneva. November
Kenny, Bridget. 2018. “Walmart and Labor Conditions in South Africa.” In Walmart in the Global South: Workplace Culture, Labor Politics, and Supply Chains, edited by Carolina Bank Muñoz, Bridget Kenny, and Antonio Stecher, 64–86. Austin: University of Texas Press.
KPMG. 2017. “Brazil—New Labor Reform Law Published, Soon in Effect.” August 22. https://home.kpmg/xx/en/home/insights/2017/08/flash-alert-2017-128.html. Accessed September 9, 2020.
Lemos, Patrícia Rocha. 2018. “Individualização dos Conflitos do Trabalho nas Grandes Redes Supermercadistas.” Paper presented to the V Conferência Internacional “Greves e Conflitos Sociais.” Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas, Universidade de São Paulo, July 10–13.
———. 2018/2019. “Condições de Trabalho e Práticas de Gestão no Walmart Brasil.” Centro de Estudos Sindicais e de Economia do Trabalho (CESIT). https://www.cesit.net.br/condicoes-de-trabalho-e-praticas-de-gestao-no-walmart-brasil/. Accessed August 29, 2020.
———. 2019. “‘Custo Baixo Todo Dia:’ Redes Globais de Produção e Regime de Trabalho no Walmart Brasil.” Doctoral dissertation, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas.
O’Sullivan, Michelle et al., eds. 2019. Zero Hours and On-Call Work in Anglo-Saxon Countries. Singapore: Springer.
Reuters. 2018. “Walmart Sells Majority of Brazil Unit, Takes $4.5 Billion Charge.” June 4. https://reuters.com/article/us-walmart-brazil/walmart-sells-majority-of-brazil-unit-takes-4.5-billion-charge-idUSKCN1J01L0. Accessed August 1, 2021.
SINCOVAGA-SP (Sindicato do Comércio Varejista de Gêneros Alimentícios do Estado de São Paulo). 2017.“O Quê Muda com a Reforma Trabalhista.” Supérnotícias 32 (6): 1–8
Tribunal Superior do Trabalho (TST), Coordenadoria de Estatística e Pesquisa. 2015. Ranking das Partes. December. Brasília, D.F.
———. 2018. Relatório Geral da Justiça do Trabalho 2017: A Justiça Trabalhista em Números. Brasília, D.F.
Walmart. 2017. 2017 Annual Report. https://s2.q4cdn.com/056532643/files/doc_financials/2017/Annual/WMT_2017_AR-(1).pdf. Accessed September 6, 2020.
Walmart Annual Report 2018. Available at https://annualreport.com/Company?Wal-mart-stores-inc. Accessed August 1, 2021.
Walmart Annual Report 2019. Available at https://annualreports.com/Company/Wal-mart-stores-inc. Accessed August 2, 2021.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Martin, S.B., Veiga, J.P.C., Galhera, K.M. (2021). Labor Contestation Amidst Restructuring, Flexible Labor Reforms, and Walmart’s Exit from Brazil, 2015–2018. In: Labor Contestation at Walmart Brazil. Governance, Development, and Social Inclusion in Latin America. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74672-8_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74672-8_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-74671-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-74672-8
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)