Trabalho e modo de vida: a experiência dos operários em novas áreas industriais

Abstract

Northeast of Brazil has attracted many industrial enterprises from South and Southeast, which seek advantageous conditions for increasing — in that case, fiscal incitements, infrastructure, and inexpensive work force. In Ceará state, this process has been increasing particularly since the beginning of the ‘90s. This work intends to discuss some features of the lifestyle presented by workers employed in factories settled in a Ceará municipality, which developed based on an industrialization process supported by state government policies. The discussion is founded in a set of interviews with workers and ex-workers of five of those factories. On one hand, it was possible to conclude that workers have been submitted to work intensive rhythms, extensive days and improper conditions. On the other hand, it was found out that they are creating a new way of organizing their lives in the non-work time, due both to what they are learning and to what is required from them inside the factories. The current changes affect customs,values, and familiar and affective relationships, among others.