Ever since employer-friendly labor reform took effect in Brazil,
unions have been struggling but fighting back. The labor reform,
the largest modification to the Brazilian Labor Code since its
enactment in 1943, took effect Nov. 11, 2017. Employers had lobbied
for the modifications to help Brazil cope with an economic crisis
going back to 2014. As expected, the new legislation led to union
backlash.
The labor reform eliminated mandatory union dues. This was a
major change, as these dues had been the unions' main source of
income since the 1940s. As a result, union earnings decreased by
more than 85 percent. Under the previous law, companies had to
annually withhold union dues—which amounted to one
workday's salary—from each worker's wages. While the
total in union dues collected in 2017 came to 3.6 billion reals
(approximately U.S. $908 million), that total shrank in 2018 to 500
million reals (approximately U.S. $126 million). This shortfall in
finances forced unions
