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Originally posted by Lira Nah, it's fine, I'm not really partisan in any way You have to keep in mind labour unions are much stronger in Brazil than in the US - think of us as an American nation with European politics. We've got no prime ministers, as in the US, but loads of political parties and coalitions, as in Europe. The US has never really been a socialist stronghold, and that's where labour unions seem to thrive (reason I'm lumping it all together for brevity's sake). Brazil, however, a lot like Europe, is much more ambiguous about socialism and workers rights. Whereas there isn't a big socialist party in the US (which is why Bernie such a poor fit in the Democratic Party), the Workers' Party is Brazil's 2nd largest party - and, if you include splinter groups, they easily outnumber the nominally biggest party, a centrist big-tent relic of our past. Trade Union density here hovers around 26%, as in the UK, and one of the reasons behind this general strike is that workers will no longer have to pay an obligatory union tax, so there's a lot of money involved and benefits to affiliates. As a matter of fact, the party that ruled the country up until last year is closely linked to Brazil's largest trade union the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (the Unified Workers' Central), something I've never seen in the US. So views regarding trade unions here depend on your political leanings. While they're popular among leftists, let's just say right-wing Brazilians aren't fond of them, to put it mildly. So, in short, they're powerful. Whether or not they're seen as an effective force for good depends on whom you ask (as a centrist, I think they're a necessary evil).

Thank you for that. I think in the US, at least in my neck of the woods, unions are somewhat frowned upon (many companies locate factories in the South because of the lack of union shops). I think unions, at one time, played a very vital role in the US. I feel we would not have nearly the federal employment laws we have today that generally serve to benefit and protect workers were it not for unions. One might make the argument that, with these laws, unions have "served their purpose," but the price of "freedom" is eternal vigilance, as they say.