TRADE UNION MOVEMENT AND TEACHING ACTIVITY IN PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION: A LOOK AT SOCIAL ACTIONS FROM THE 1990S ONWARDS

Abstract

This text presents an overview of the social actions of the labor movement and teaching activities in public higher education since the 1990s. The study begins with an analysis of changes in the world of work, from the Industrial Revolution to the Toyotist model, which impacted the organization and struggles of the working class. It then addresses the transition from combative unionism to a proactive model, exemplified by the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT), and the consequences of this shift for the fight for rights. Finally, it examines the reality of teaching in higher education, marked by precariousness, meritocratic ideology, and the fragmentation of union agendas. Field research, conducted with professors at a public university in Paraná, reveals the distance between professors and union struggles, their lack of identification with the working class, and the contradiction between the pursuit of individual qualifications and the need for collective struggle. From this research, it is possible to infer that teaching unionism in public universities faces the challenge of recovering its combative essence and unifying the category around issues that confront the logic of capital and the precariousness of work.