Reforma Trabalhista (Lei nº 13.467/2017) e acesso à justiça: a fragilização financeira dos sindicatos e os novos óbices à concretização dos direitos dos trabalhadores

Abstract

The objective of the study was to examine to what extent the normative innovations promoted by Law No. 13.467/2017, the Labor Reform, especially the extinction of compulsory union dues, influence the unions’ performance for the effective access to the Labor Court, especially in the provision of free legal assistance to workers, as well as at the defense of labor rights, according to its constitutional and legal attributions. The referred law, at the same time that it changed the main form of funding of the union system, causing the financial weakening of unions, also relaxed many material and procedural aspects of the protective legislation to the low-sufficient party in labor relations, in addition to attributing to collective bargaining the regulatory role of labor relations at various points. Despite this set of norms that at first sight reveal the potential to offend labor rights protected by the legal-constitutional system, the Federal Supreme Court recognized the constitutionality of transmuting union contribution into voluntary contribution. The Supreme Court's decision, however, did not rule out the issue of the repercussions of the legal reform on union activities aimed at enforcing workers' rights, especially access to the Labor Court. An investigation based on exploratory and deductive bibliographic research was carried out to measure these implications. The work was divided into two parts. The first examined the evolution of the content of the right of access to justice and the treatment given to it by the Federal Constitution of 1988; as well as the relevance assumed by this right in the labor law field, and the existence of obstacles, old or created by Law No. 13,467/2017, to its effectiveness. In the second, it was examined: the unions’ role in the realization of the right of access to justice and other labor rights; the union representation crisis and the resulting limitation of the unions' possibilities of action; the probability of accentuating this critical process from the reforms promoted by Law No. 13.467/2017 and; the recognition, by the Federal Supreme Court, of the constitutionality of the extinction of the compulsory union contribution. In the end, it was found that the serious financial weakness of the unions, caused by the referred legal reform, led to the aggravation of the weaknesses present in the possibilities of union action for the promotion of effective access to the Labor Court, as well as for the defense of labor rights and that this fact was not duly considered by the Constitutional Court. Keywords: Labor Reform. Union contribution. Access to justice. Legal assistance. Union representation. Labor rights.