The Catholic Church as an agent of the so-called “new unionism” in Joinville

the case of the August 1979 strikes

Abstract

This article aims to historically analyze a series of strikes and sit-down movements that took place in the city of Joinville in August 1979, with a close look at the role played by the Catholic Church as an agency space of the so-called "new unionism" in the city. To this end, is made use of a set of sources that include the local periodical press, reports produced by the military dictatorship's espionage structure and pamphlets, meeting minutes, typescripts and similar textual genres associated with the activity of social movements linked to the Catholic Church. As a result, the text argues that the Catholic Church lent its prestige and legitimacy to the efforts to articulate the city's labor movement, especially since there was no prominent union leadership in Joinville along the lines of the "new unionism" of the ABC in São Paulo.