Rural Workers, Sindicatos and Collective Bargaining in Rio Grande do Sul

This Palgrave Pivot provides an overview of rural labour relations in different regions of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, in southern Brazil. Based on rich ethnographic research, through interviews with a long list of rural workers and union members, among others, the study highlights the toughness faced by salaried workers, who deal with difficulties in union representation and, above all, suffer different types of exploitation. Using a systemic approach, this book connects rural workers, union representation, and labour regulation to examine where society has failed and what can be done to protect rural workers.

“Davide Carbonai’s book is a major sociological study addressing the diversity of rural wage workers in the southernmost state of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul. Through in-depth interviews, together with consistent quantitative data, trade unions’ documents and insightful analyses, the author paints a unique picture of those who are impoverished workers, their everyday life, their working relationships, as well as their fears and hopes for the future. This is an indispensable book for anyone who wants to know more about rural workers in Brazil, especially in the South”
– Ondina Fachel Leal Professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), and author of The Gauchos: Culture and Identity in the Pampas (Tomo Editorial 2021)

“The development of this type of undertaking, of “traveller-research”, especially in the current context, is endowed with difficulty and substantial merit.The author shows that it is possible to build an academic narrative with rigor and, at the same time, one that is committed to the reader, rendering the text an experience of in-depth reflection and, also, an exciting read. This work will become an excellent research reference, one that is worthy of a place on the shelf of any bookstore section focused on rural work, unions and collective labour agreements”
– Professor Ronaldo Bernardino Colvero, Federal University of Pampa, Brazil

“This book is certainly timely and goes right to the point, like an arrow. It’s short and broad at the same time. This book could be useful for a broad audience to better understand hindrances to just labor practices and may help to overcome these challenges. Readers will be rewarded by a small, big book, and by following the endeavor that Davide Carbonai performed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic”
– Professor Sergio Schneider, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil

“Davide Carbonai's book represents an important contribution to all those interested in debates about the world of work. One of the main contributions of Carbonai's book is that it develops this discussion in rural areas, giving voice to a group of workers who have had their lives organized based on activities in the countryside. It offers an especially interesting debate in the case of Brazil, where in recent years the sectors associated with agribusiness have become one of the main representatives of conservatism in the country”
– Professor Alfredo Alejandro Gugliano, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil

Davide Carbonai is Associate Professor of Industrial Relations and Public Policy at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. He is an economic sociologist, and his research focuses on issues of sociology of work and urban studies.