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8/9/2019 Saint, William (1981), the Wages of Modernization Areview of Literature on Temporary Labor Arrangement in Brasil
1/21
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8/9/2019 Saint, William (1981), the Wages of Modernization Areview of Literature on Temporary Labor Arrangement in Brasil
2/21
THE
WAGES OF MODERNIZATION:
A Review of theLiterature n Temporary
Labor
Arrangements
n
Brazilian
Agriculture*
William. Saint
The ord oundation
INTRODUCTION
AND
BACKGROUND
In
two decades, Brazil has shed the image of a stagnant agrarian
state
and
emerged
as
one
of the world's
largest agricultural xporters.The
price of this metamorphosishas come high: land, resource, and capital
concentration;
massive rural-urban
migration;
shortfalls
n
domestic
food
supply;
and
ecological deterioration long the expanding agricul-
tural
frontier.
ajor
transformations
n
the structure f
agricultural ro-
duction
have
accompanied
these
changes,
and
they have
led to
new
patterns n the organizationof agriculturalwork and associated social
relations
n
production. Perhaps
the most
visible social product of
agri-
cultural modernization has
been the temporarywage laborer, known
commonly
n
Brazil as the
boiafria.
In
recent
years
the boia
fria
phenomenon
has
received
consid-
erable
attentionfromBrazilian social
scientists oncerned
with under-
standing
rural
development processes.
The
following
discussion traces
the
development
of
conceptual thinking
and
empirical investigation
concerningtemporarywage
labor
in
Brazilian
agriculture
nd reviews
existing iterature n the subject,muchof whichis poorlydisseminated
outside Brazil.
One of the first
tudies of boias frias Bombo and Brunelli
1966)
described
this rural worker as follows: a
person
of
periodic
employ-
ment and
informalwork
relations,
who lives outside of
the
farm on
which he
works, usually
in
the urban
periphery
of
nearby
towns
or
cities. Later
definitions, enefitting
rom
greaterunderstanding
f
this
*An earlierversion of this paper was presented at theannual meetingof the Rural Socio-
logical
Society, Burlington,Vermont,August 1979, and
was published
in
Portuguese as
Mao de Obra Volante na
Agricultura rasileira Pesquisa
Planejamentocon6mico 0, no.
2 [Aug. 1980]: 503-26).The
author wishes to express his
appreciation to Jose Francisco
Graziano da Silva and
Michael Redclift or
heir
helpful
uggestions. Opinions expressed
are
entirely he author's, and do not
reflect
he
viewpointsof the nstitution ith which he
is
associated.
91
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Latin
Americanesearch
eview
phenomenon, qualified or
expanded
this
characterization
e.g.,
Vassi-
mon
1969,
Gonzales
and
Bastos
1975).
The definition
sed
here
will
be
the
synthesis ffered
y Gomes
da
Silva
(1975):
. .
.a salaried ural
worker
esiding
utside
he
gricultural
roperty,
enerally
in the
urban
periphery
f
nearby
owns or
cities,
who
may
or
may
not
be
properly
egistered
o as to receive abor
egislation
nd social
ecurity
enefits;
who is paid
on
a
piecework, ask-completed
r
dailybasis;
and who
generally
travels ome
distance
ach
day
to
his
place
of
work,
sually y
truck.
P. 8)
A
principal
distinguishing
eature
of
the boias frias
s
that
they
are
frequentlygriculturalworkers
with
urban residence. This charac-
teristic, lso noted
in
similar tudies n other
countries
e.g.,
Dotson
and
Dotson 1978,
Wilkinson
1963),
has led
some researchers to
label
this
social group as rurban (Gonzales and Bastos 1975, p. 12) and note the
de-ruralization
of
the
agricultural
abor force
Brant
1979, p.
33).
Agricultural
modernization
processes
in
Brazil have
perhaps
had
theirmost
profound
mpact
n
the
state of
Sao
Paulo,
and much
of
the
existing
research on
boias frias
s
specific
to that state.
This
research
interest
was
stimulated n
part by
Maria
Conceiqao
D'Incao e
Mello's
landmark
study, The
Boia Fria:
Accumulationnd
Misery
1975), which
represents
the
first
major attempt
t
combining historical nd
field
n-
vestigation of ruralday laborers. It remains the most comprehensive
single reference
n
the
subject.
Focusing
primarily n
the
impoverished
Alta
Sorocabana region
of
Sao
Paulo, D'Incao
e
Mello describes the
historical
ransition rom n
agricultural
roduction
system
based
largely
on
coffee
o
one
in
which
cattle
raising
nd
commercial
otton
ultivation
redominate.As a
result
of
this
transition, rganization of
the
production
system also
changed.
Patron-client
elationsbetween
landowners and
resident enant
farmers
(called
colonos)
were
gradually
replaced by an
increasingly
apitalist gri-
culturebased on mechanization, modern inputs, and temporarywage
labor.
Temporary
abor
was
especially employed
during
periods of
peak
labor
demand at
cotton
harvest,which
requires
much greater
imeliness
of
execution
than
the
traditional
offee
gathering.
This
substitution
process
occurred
over a
forty-year
eriod be-
tween
1930
and
1970. As the
configuration f
coffee
plantations
with
their
associated
subsistence
tenant-farmer
abor
force was
substituted
by
the
relatively
ess
labor-intensive
ystems of
cattleand
cotton,
rural
residents
were
forcedto seek
employment n
nearbycities and
towns,
thereby emoving hem from n-farm roductive ctivity nd contribut-
ing to the
growingmarginal
population in urban
areas.2
Because of
the
large number
of ex-rural
unemployed and the
cyclicalhigh
demands
for
labor, rural
landowners found it
economically
more
advantageous
to
transport ay
laborers
from he
towns to the
farms han
to maintain
a
92
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4/21
TEMPORARY
LABOR IN BRAZILIAN AGRICULTURE
resident on-farmwork force with its
corresponding costs of required
labor legislationbenefits, and for subsistence
production, and various
in-kindpayments e.g., firewood,foodstuffs, ousing, etc.). In conse-
quence, the boia friaemerged as an identifiable ocial group, working
sporadically ccording
to
the demand
forhis
or her service,often eceiv-
ing less than the minimumwage.3
As the number of boias frias ncreased, the composition of the
rural
work force
changed (Graziano
da Silva and Gasques 1976, p. 6).
During the 1964-75 period, the absolute number of nonresident rural
workers ncreased
by
almost 44
percent
while the overall rural popula-
tion declined by one
third. n
consequence,
the proportionof nonresi-
dent workers
n
the agricultural abor
force xpanded from 6 percentto
36 percent. t is noteworthy hatby 1975 the boias friasrepresented ne
fourth f
the population economically
ctive n Sao Paulo agriculture.
The specific auses of the rural
social change processes that have
led to the emergence of the temporary ay
laborer have been
variously
suggested
to include
capitalistpenetration
f
agriculture, hanging agri-
cultural
and-use
patterns,
ncreased
seasonality
n the demand for ural
labor,
and revised labor
legislation governing
rural workers. These oc-
currences
are
obviously
not unrelated and will be discussed more ex-
tensively
elow.
There are currently n estimated
six millionboias frias
n
Brazil
(Gomes
da
Silva
1975, p. 16). During
the
agricultural ear,
this
number
fluctuates
y up
to 15
percent
due
to
the
seasonality
of labor
demand
(Graziano
da
Silva
and
Gasques 1975).
A
perhaps generous estimation,
thisnumber lso
represents
s
much
as
39
percent
of
the Brazilian
popu-
lation
that s
economically
active
in
agriculture.
This
proportion
varies
considerablyby region,
of
course,
as
suggested by
tabulations
carried
out
by
Gonzales
and
Bastos
(1975),
which
are
reproduced
n
table
1.
The
assumptionhere is thatthe largebulk of urban residentswho are eco-
nomically ctive
n
agriculture
work as
boias frias.4
The demand for
temporarywage
labor
in
agriculture
s
highly
seasonal.
When labor demand
peaks
and
wages rise,
work
groups
ex-
pand
to
nclude
persons normally
nderemployed
n
the urban
economy,
includingwomen
and
children Lange, Bellotto,
nd Bastos
1977;
Barros
and
Urban
1977;
and
Graziano
da
Silva 1977). Indeed,
children
under
the
age
of fifteen
working as temporary
wage
laborers
represented
9
percent
of
boias
frias,
nd
3
percent
of
the total
population economically
active n Sao Paulo agriculturen 1975 (Graziano da Silva and Gasques
1976).5
While
data
on
children's
contributions
o
agricultural roduction
are
sketchy
t
best,
there
s
some
evidence that
the
number
of
children
in
the Brazilian
agricultural
abor
force
has
expanded
in
recent years
93
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Latin
American
esearch
eview
T
A B L E
1
Population
conomicallyctiven
Agriculture
n 1970
ccording
o
Rural
or
Urban
esidence,or electedraziliantates
State Urban % Rural % Total %
Pernambuco
100,279
13.1
664,440
86.9
764,719
100
Sao
Paulo
346,896
26.6
954,934
73.4
1,301,830 100
Parana
105,780
7.4
1,333,058
92.6
1,438,838
100
Goias
76,134
14.5
447,983
85.5
524,117
100
Source:
onzalez
ndBastos
1975), .
11.
(Martins
1978).
During
the 1970-75
period,
the number
of
agriculturally
employedwomen and children ntheBrazilianNortheast ncreasedby7
percent
Rezende
1978, p.
13;
author's calculations
based
on
1975 census
data).
In
the same
span,
overall child labor
participation
n
Sao
Paulo
agriculture rew
by
21
percent.
Concomitantly,
he
absolute
number
of
children
n
the boia
fria
brigades tripled
during
these
years
from
1,814
to
33,220 Antuniassi
1980).
These
descriptive tudies
have
only
begun to probe
the
causes of
increased
on-farm hild
abor use.
Economic
advantage has
been offered
as
the
principal
explanation, since
children'swages
are
generallyhalf
of-
adult rates. However, thisinterpretationould be enriched by a fuller
considerationof
household survival
strategies
n
the context
f
deterio-
rating terms of
exchange
for
rural
workers,
and
associated
migration
patterns
hat attract
young
adults
from
he farm
family
work
force
nto
unskilled
urban
employment.
Women
represent
a
larger
proportion of
the
agricultural
work
force han
do children
Guimaraes 1978), and
theyparticipate
ctively s
temporarywage
laborers.
n
her
well-known
study
of
a
women's rural
labor
gang, Verena
Martinez-Alier
1977) notes that
these
women work
outside the home because theirhusbands' salaries are insufficiento
sustain the
family.
his situation
s
largely he
result
of the
family's ural-
urban
migration.
Whereas
previously
hese
women
participated n
sub-
sistence
agricultural
roduction
s an
extension of
their
domestic
activi-
ties, this
is no
longer
possible in an
urban
environment.As a
family
survival
strategy,
he
principalrecourse s
the sale
of
women's
labor
power
along
with that
of the
men.
The
difficultyaced
by
urban
families n
sustaining
hemselves
on
one
salary s
clearly egistered
n
Oliveira's
empirical
tudy
1978) of
boia
friafamily urvivalstrategies,which to myknowledge is the only ex-
isting example
of
this
methodological
approach. Of
194
families nter-
viewed,
78
percent
ontained
two or more
working
members.One
result
of
ncreased
formal
mployment
y
women
was found
to be
a
change in
reproductive ehavior n
favor
of
smallerfamilies.6
94
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6/21
TEMPORARY
LABOR IN BRAZILIAN
AGRICULTURE
In many cases, the boia
fria-man or woman-literally
sells his
or
her abor to the
highest
bidder on
a
daily basis.
At strategic ollection
points in the urban peripheryof rural cities or towns, predawn labor
auctions fill local needs for
temporary abor.
Labor gang bosses,
known as
gatos
r turmeiros,
ecruit he day's work group, basing
their
choices-to
the extent
possible-on
strength, eliability, roductivity,
and passivity.
The
workers,
on the other hand, circulate among the
gatos
in
the effort
o
compare
wages offered nd the type of ob
to be
done. The choices are quickly
made and by dawn the pick-up and
flat-
bed
trucksfull of
boias frias are
on their way to the farmwhere
that
particular ay's
work will
be done.
The average work day lasts
twelve to fourteen
hours, includinga
lunch
break
and transportation
ime of two to three hours. Payment
s
made on
a
daily, task-completed,or piece-work
production basis.
The
latter ystem,
alled
empreitada,
s preferred ince
it reduces supervision
costs
and increases work
intensity.Although
boias frias tend
to
earn
more on a
daily
basis
than
do
permanent
residents or
tenant
farmers
(including
in-kind
payments), the intermittency
f their employment
means
that they
earn less
on
an
annual
basis,
hence
explaining
n
part
the employer's preference
ortemporarywage
workers Gonzales and
Bastos
1975).
The labor gang boss is linked to the farm mployer throughone
of
several
different
ocial
relationships.
He
may
be the
permanent
em-
ployee
of a
larger
farm
who is
responsible
for
recruiting
abor.
Or
he
may be simply
truck wner who
charges
workers
fare to transport
them
to a work
site
where, upon
arrival, heynegotiate
directly-and
at
a
disadvantage-with
the
employer.
Most
often,
however,
the
gato
is
a
labor
contractor
ho
agrees
to
provide
a serviceto the
employer
for
set
fee and
then
recruits
he abor
necessary
to
carry
ut the
task.
The
gato's
earnings
derive
from
he difference etween the fee
he
receives
and
the
paymentshe must make to the workers.This amount generallyrepre-
sents between
10
and 30
percent
of the contract
ayment Graziano
da
Silva
and
Gasques
1976).7
Recent
nvestigation
as ascertained
that
the temporary nd
tran-
sient
nature
of these
work
groups
is
not
nearly
s
pervasive
as
originally
thought.
n
a number
of
cases,
the
work
group
has been found to
be
quite
stable.
In these fixed
groups (called
turma
irme),
constant
ore
of
aborers
may
work
together
egularly
or he same
gato,
and
oftenon
the
same
farm,
for a
year
or
more
(Barros
and
Urban
1977,
Gomes
da
Silva 1977, Martinez-Alier 977). At times of peak demand, this core
group
s
augmented through
he
incorporation
f friends r
relatives.
Current
research
has also
documented the limits
of
boia
fria
par-
ticipation
n
the overall
temporary
wage
labor force. n
Saio Paulo,
for
example,
the number
of boias
frias
grew rapidly
during
the
1960-66
95
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LatinAmerican
esearch
eview
period.
However,
fter
966the total
number
emained
elativelyon-
stant,
lthough
he proportionate
epresentation
f boias
frias n the
agricultural
abor orceontinued
o rise
s theresult
f harp
eclines n
the number fresidentworkerscamaradas),enantaborerscolonos),
and
sharecroppers
parceiros)
Graziano
da
Silva 1977).8
At the same
time,
t
has become
ncreasingly
lear
hatmany
f
the emporary
age
aborersn
agriculture
re either
nderemployed
r
seasonally
nemployed
members f
small
farm amilies
Moura
1978,
Wanderley978).
An
extensiveield urvey
f mall armers
n the
tates
of SRo
Paulo and
Minas
Gerais scertained
hat emporary
age
work
contributedpproximately
0 percent
f annual
family
ncome
FIPE
1975).
A smallerurvey
ffamily
armsn the
Reconcavo
egion
fBahia
indicated hatmany ouseholdmembersngagednsupplemental age
labor,
enerallyor
eriods
f ixto fifteen
eeks year Saint1977b,
.
164).
These
findings
ave forced
rethinking
f arlier
nterpretations
f
the
boia
fria
s
a
transitory
ocial
phenomenon
ithin broader rocess
of
rural
roletarianization.
ndeed,
n the
face f
gricultural
oderniza-
tion,
ncreased
use of
all
types
of agricultural
age labor,
nd major
structural
hanges
n
rural
reas,
theBrazilian mall-family
arm
mini-
fundia)
as
demonstratedtself
o
be remarkably
esilient
ndadaptable
(Graziano
da Silva
1978b,
rant
979).
The continuednd ncreasinglyetailed tudy f emporaryage
laborhas
demonstrated
hat
heboia frias not he
homogeneous
roup
it was
once
thought
o
be.
In
fact,
t leastone effort
as been made
to
develop
typology
f theseworkers.
Grazianoda Silva
1978a)
distin-
guishes
hreemain
subgroups:1)
the
permanent
oia
friawho
works
virtually
he ntire
ear,
enerally
s
a
member
f fixed
roup;
2)
the
sporadic
oia fria-often
minors,
women
or the
aged-who
works
ne
or
two
months
year
during
eriods
f
peak
demand;
nd
(3)
the
nter-
mittent
oia
fria,
who
periodically
hifts
etween ural
nd
urban
m-
ploymentepending navailableobopportunities.
At
this
point,
t
should
be
noted
thatmany f
theabove studies
have
relied
n
secondary
ata sources
hathave certain
imitations.he
most ommonly
sed sources
re the nstituto
e Economia
Agricultura
(IEA)
in
Sao
Paulo,
the
Instituto
acional
de
Colonizaqao
e Reforma
Agraria
INCRA),
and
the nstituto rasiliero
e
Geografia
Estatistica
(IBGE).
The
EA
conducts
yearly
ample
urvey
f
pproximately
,500
farms
tratified
y
farm
ize.
These
data are then
xtrapolated
o form
distributionalonfiguration
or
ll farms
n the
state.
This
procedure
creates wodifficulties.irst, nce-a-yearampling oes notprovide
much
basis
for
ssessing
mportant
easonal variations
n
temporary
labor
use;
second,
the
extrapolation
rocess
occasionally
reates am-
pling
rrors
hat
urpass
20
percent
Antuniassi
980).
n
contrast,
he
INCRA
and IBGE
data
avoid
the
sampling
ssue since
hey
re
national
96
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TEMPORARY LABOR IN
BRAZILIAN AGRICULTURE
censuses. However, they
do not
resolve the seasonality
problem since
they re conducted only at five-yearntervals. urthermore,
ven though
these ntervals re staggered INCRA
in
1967 and
1972; BGE in 1970 and
1975), definitions fthesamplingunitare sufficientlyissimilar o as to
make comparison difficultGraziano da Silva 1978b).
Very ittle ffort as been made to check
the qualityand reliability
of
data on
temporary wage
labor
from these
sources. While many
researchershave used this informationwithout qualification, here are
important xceptions e.g., Graziano da Silva, Brant). Probablyno more
than a fifth f all boia friastudies are field based, and many of these
employ
more
qualitative
than
quantitative
methods. Where interview
surveys
have been
used,
the
sample size-frequently
limited by the
availability fresearchfunds-has oftenbeen questionablysmall. How-
ever,
these limitations ave not
preventedresearchers
uch as D'Incao e
Mello
(1975)
and Martinez-Alier
1977)
from
making maginativeuse of
small
surveys
in
conjunction
with other
methodological approaches.
Unfortunately,
he
ambitious and
potentially
ich
analysis
of
boias frias
in
Parana',
concluded
in
1979
and based
on
some
twelve hundred field
interviewsby
the
Instituto aranaense
de
Desenvolvimento
Economico
e
Social (IPARDES),
is stillnot available
publicly.
A number of studies have commentedon the livingconditionsof
boias
frias
e.g.,
Bombo
and Brunelli
1966,
Santos 1972, D'Incao
e Mello
1975). They note that the
work
day varies
from en
to fourteenhours,
thatthe large majority
f
workers re illiterate,
hat
health problems are
constant
nd
frequently evere,
and
thatmost
workers'families ive
in
a
three- r four-room hack
that
hey
do not own.
Additionally,
utritional
shortcomings
re
widespread
and
occasionally
reach
levels
considered
to be clinically eficient Angeleli,Vannuchi nd Dutra
de
Oliveira 1978).
Salaries
are
consistently
elow
the
legislated
minimum
wage (Graziano
da Silva and Gasques 1975), and women are routinelypaid less than
men (Martinez-Alier 977,
Saint
1977a,
Guimaraes 1978).
Political
par-
ticipation s very ow; one study found that almost 80 percent
of
boias
frias nterviewed had
not voted
in
the last election
(Santos 1972).
In
short,
the boias frias
constitute
socially marginalized
group,
which
relies on
strategies
of
multiple
unskilled
rural and urban
employment
trade-offs or ts
survival nd social
reproduction
Brant1977).
EXPLANATIONS OF THE BOIA FRIA PHENOMENON
Early
studies
of
temporarywage
labor
in
agriculture
ended
to
explain
(and
almost
assume)
the
emergence
of this
new social
group
as the
resultof
capitalistpenetration
f the
countryside D'Incao
e Mello
1975,
Gonzales
and Bastos
1975).
Viewed
generally
from Marxist-oriented
97
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Latin
American
esearch
eview
perspective,
the boia
friawas seen
as the natural
consequence
of
this
process,
a
transitional social
phenomenon
arising
from
onger-term
movements towards rural
proletarianization
nd
the creation
of a
re-
serve labor pool for ndustry.n manycases, however, little ffort
was
made to
investigate
he
extent o which
changes
in rural
abor
relations
were
in
fact
related to increased
capital
investment
nd
technological
innovation.9
An
additional
shortcoming
f
this
literature
as
been its
rather
persistentfailureto
frame
rural
proletarianization n
Brazil
within
the
contextof
larger
historical nd
international
rocesses.
Martins'
(1979)
careful
nalysis
of
tenant
aborers
colonos)
in
the
Sao
Paulo
coffee
n-
dustryprovides one
positive
example
of
such
an
approach.
The
study
exploreseffectivelyhe emergenceof the colono workergroup in
rela-
tion to
local
economic
development needs
and
associated
patterns
of
foreign
mmigration.What is
needed,
however, are
similar
endeavors
that
relate
the
boia
fria
o
broader
patterns
f
national
and
international
development,
and
make
explicit
fforts
o
develop a
comparative
under-
standing
of the
boia fria
henomenon
in
light
of
relevant
ural
proletari-
anization
experiences
from
ther
Latin
American
settings.
Later
studies
rectified,
t
least in
part,
these
earlier
missions and
provided
greater
nderstanding fthe
factors
hat
erved
as
catalysts or
theappearance of theruralwage laborers. 0Principal mong thesehave
been:
(1)
technological
modernization nd
concomitant
ncreases in
the
seasonal
variation
of
demand
for
agricultural
abor;
(2)
changing
crop-
ping
patterns
nd
associated
shifts n
labor
requirements;
nd
(3)
labor
legislation
applied
to
rural
workers
and
represented
primarily
y the
Estatuto do
Trabalhador Rural
(Statute for
the
Rural
Worker).
Each of
these
factors,
ot
unrelated
to the
broader
process
of
capital
penetration
in
the
countryside,
will
be
discussed
in
turn
below. It
should be
noted,
however,
that
to date
there
has been
little
ttempt
o
weight
these
vari-
ables. The extent owhich one is deemed moreimportant hananother
in
provoking
this
process often
seems
to
reflect
ersonal
biases of
the
authors rather
han
any
clear
understanding
f
causal
sequence.
Technological
odernization.
echnological
modernization
n
agri-
culture
has been
used
frequently s
a
primary
ndicator
of
increased
capitalization
n
rural
productive
processes.
The
most
common
mea-
sures of
technological
modernization
have
emphasized
changes in
trac-
tor
use,
fertilizer
pplication,
and
employment
f
pesticides
e.g.,
Brant
1977).
The
extent of
these
changes
has been
summarized in a
major
studyof temporarywage labor in Sao Paulo agriculture onducted by
the
State
Secretariat
f
Planning State of
Sao Paulo
1978).
1
It
notes
that
between
1950 and
1970 the
number of
tractors
n
Sao Paulo
increased
eighteen-fold
rom
3,819
to
67,312.
Similarly,
verage
fertilizer
se
per
hectare
grew
from
8.4
kg
during
the
1961-65
period
to 72.9
kg
in
1970,
98
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TEMPORARY
LABOR IN
BRAZILIAN AGRICULTURE
and expenditures n pesticides
by
farmers measured in constant
prices)
quadrupled between
1950 and 1970.
The expansion
of agricultural redithas
been a major
stimulus o
technologicalmodernization. n recentyears Brazilhas expanded agri-
culturalcredit
n
an
effort o finance
ts costly petroleum purchases
by
increasing
gricultural xports.
Between 1955 and 1975, the
number
of
agricultural
oans
in
Sao Paulo
mushroomed from 0,602 to
418,933. At
the same
time,the value
of the average loan provided
for he
purchases
of farm ools
and
machinery ncreased
five-fold
rom 970 to 1975 State
of
Sao
Paulo 1978, pp. 120,148).12
Finally, further
ndicatorof capitalistpenetration
f rural areas
might be
the proportionof farm
production that
s sold, thereby ug-
gesting heextent o which agricultural roduction s primarily subsis-
tence activity.
etween
1967 and 1972, this proportion
n
Sao
Paulo in-
creased
from72
percent
to 81
percent,
hus supporting
he notion that
agricultural roduction
has
become more
commercially
riented
Gra-
ziano
da Silva and Gasques
1976).
To date, capitalistpenetration
notions have
been framed argely
in
terms of evolving
modernization processes
on medium and
large
farms.
Attention
o the
employment onsequences
springing
from n-
creased
use
of
purchased
production
nputs
has tended to overshadow
the emergenceofnew organizationalformsforproduction, .e., agro-
industry.
esigned
to
produce specific xport
tems
and
more
recently
energy crops), agro-industrial
nterprises
re
less
tied to local markets
and
tend to
locate
in
regions
where
land
and labor
costs are lower.
Consequently, they
often create
a demand for
wage
labor
that
con-
siderably urpasses previous
regional requirements.
This
phenomenon
has been
particularly
bservable
n
the Brazilian
Northeast
where
agro-
industrial
expansion, often focusing
on the
production
of
citrus and
other
ropicalfruits,
as
generated
poorly
understood pressures
on
local
productionsystems.The socioeconomic effects f this expansion pro-
cess-greater
use of
wage labor,
rural
out-migration,
educed
regional
food
supply,
declining
nutritional tatus-have
been
widely hypothe-
sized but not
generally
onfirmed.
ChangingCropping
atterns. hanging cropping patterns
nd as-
sociated shifts
n
labor
requirements
have
accompanied
technological
modernization
and the massive infusion
of
agricultural
redit.
Agri-
cultural
and use
patterns
n
Sao
Paulo
have suffered
major
modifica-
tions.
Between 1968
and
1973,
the area
planted
in
subsistence
crops
(rice,beans, cassava, etc.) fellby 28 percent,the area planted in semi-
subsistence
or transitional
rops (corn, peanuts,
coffee,
ananas, etc.)
declined by
13
percent,
and
the area
planted
in
export
or
modern
crops (cotton, sugar,
oranges, soybeans,
tomatoes, etc.)
surged by
53
percent Gasques
and Valentini
1975). During
the
same
period,
cattle-
99
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LatinAmericanesearch
eview
raising also increased,
in
part supplanting
areas
that
had
previously
produced coffee.
n the
major
coffee
producing
states of Sao Paulo and
Parana,
for
example, pasture
land
replaced
27
percent
and
40
percent,
respectively, f coffee ands cleared through government radication
program Graziano
da
Silva
and
Gasques 1976, p. 28).
The expansion of
export nd industrially riented
rops s directly
related
to favorablebiases
in
agricultural
redit
programs
and
agricul-
tural policy generally.As illustrated
n
table
2,
between
1970
and 1975
certain
Saio
Paulo
crops
received
major
credit llocation ncreases:
soy-
beans
(2,302%), sugar
cane
(1,026%),
rice
(859%),
and
citrus
712%).
Over
the
same
period,
the
total value
of
agricultural roduction
credit
(custeio)
for
cattle-raising
oared to
20 times
the
original
level.
These
trendswere also generally bserved forBrazil as a whole. However, it s
noteworthy
hat
Sao Paulo received
roughly
half of the nation's
cotton
credit n
both years and the
average value of Sao Paulo sugar-cane oans
increased much more
rapidly than those nationwide. Since cotton and
sugar
cane are
among
those
crops
with the
highest
easonal demand for
labor,
the
dynamicgrowth
nd concentration f credit
for hese
crops
in
Sao
Paulo
may explain
in
part why
the
boia fria
phenomenon
has
been
particularly haracteristic f Sao Paulo agriculture.
One effect
f
changing
and use
patternshas
been a
general
de-
cline in the regional demand foragricultural abor. Cattle-raisingre-
quires only
14
percent
of the
labor that coffee
production
does,
and
under current
systems
of
production export crops
are
generally ess
labor
intensive
than
subsistence
crops.
In
consequence, the number of
persons economically
occupied by agriculture eclined
in
Sao Paulo be-
tween 1964 and
1975 from
2
million to
1.3 million,
even
as the
total
amount of
agricultural
and
expanded (Graziano
da
Silva
and
Gasques
1976, p. 36). Many of
these persons migrated to nearby towns where
they
oscillatebetween
urban and
ruralemployment.
A second major effect fchanging and use patterns nd concomi-
tantmodernization
has
been
increased seasonal variation
n
the demand
for
agricultural
abor.
Under traditional
production
systems,
abor
uti-
lization
is
higher
and more
constant during
the
agricultural
year.
The
introduction
f
machinery
nd herbicides tends to reduce the labor
re-
quirements
for
soil
preparation
and
planting
and
subsequent
cultiva-
tional
practices.
However,
these
techniques,
when
coupled
with
fertil-
izer
use, generally
increase
yields
and therefore
ugment
the labor
requirements
or
harvest.
The
result s
greater
easonal variation
n
labor
demand (Graziano da Silva 1978a). Fromtheproducer'sstandpoint, he
most
economically
efficient
esponse
to this variation and
associated
possible
labor
bottlenecks
at
harvest is
the
use
of
temporary wage
laborers.
As
export
and
industrial rops have replaced subsistence
crops,
100
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TEMPORARY LABOR
IN
BRAZILIAN AGRICULTURE
TA
B L
E 2
Agriculturaloansfor roduction redit
Custeio)
n Sao Pauloand
Brazil,byEconomic ctivity: 970-1975
Sao Paulo
1970
1975
Average
Average
Value* Value Value* Value
No. of (Cr (Cr No. of (Cr
(Cr
Loans $1,000,000) $1000) Loans $1,000,000) $1000)
Cotton
24,439 262.8 10.8 13,967
736.4 52.7
Peanuts 14,823 67.4 4.5 12,662 231.0 18.2
Rice 7,998 60.8 7.6 12,858 583.3 45.4
Coffee
30,094
336.3
11.2
38,934 1,569.3
40.3
Sugar
Cane
5,655
128.3 22.7
5,940 1,445.1
243.3
Beans 1,041 4.8
4.6
3,238
58.2
18.0
Corn
29,575
243.9
8.2
34,512 1,361.9
39.5
Soybeans
974
29.4
30.1
4,665
706.1
151.4
Citrus 24,522 188.9 7.7 37,899 1,533.6
40.5
Cattle
6,409
65.9
10.3 23,262 1,381.1
59.4
Brazil
Cotton 96,342 482.2 5.0 69,496 1,737.9 25.0
Peanuts
23,550
98.3
4.2
15,401
269.2 17.5
Rice
68,432
522.3 7.6
120,934 6,475.4
53.5
Coffee
74,270
837.8 11.3
100,381 3,541.3
35.3
Sugar
Cane
14,239
345.0
24.2
22,844 3,952.1
173.0
Beans 21,230
91.2
4.3 32,889
519.0
15.8
Corn
136,763
586.2
4.3
157,238 3,964.7
25.2
Soybeans
26,846 187.5 7.0
69,577 6,412.7
92.2
Citrus
61,198
335.3
5.5
259,370 8,248.7
31.8
Cattle
29,513
294.0 10.0
152,661 7,386.9
48.4
Source:
tate
f
Sao Paulo
1978, . 149).
*In
1971
onstant
rices.
the
value
of
agricultural roduction per unit of land has
increased. At
the
same time, agricultural
redit
programs have also
increased the
demand
for
gricultural
and. As a
result of these processes,
prices for
agricultural
and have
risen at
extraordinary ates. In Sato
Paulo, for
example,
between 1969
and 1976, the price of both arable
land and
pasture land quintupled (State of Sao Paulo 1978, p. 135). Rising land
prices
have induced
many
small
holders to sell theirplots and
relocate n
the
Amazon or neighboring Paraguay-in which a reported
150,000
Brazilians
now
reside-where
land sale earningspermit he
purchase of
larger properties. Many others, of course, migrate to nearby
urban
101
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centerswhere
their
ash reserves
are
rapidly
exhausted, forcing hem to
seek
employment
as
unskilled
laborers in the town and
surrounding
countryside.
These land price increases also have contributeddirectly o the
substitution f
temporarywage laborers forresident
farm
workers. As
land values climbed, t became
cheaper for he
employer o pay workers
a
cash wage, so
that
they
could
purchase
theirfood
in
the
market, han
to
provide
the time and land
necessary
forthem to
produce
theirown
food
(Singer 1975,
Brant
1977). Similar
processes
of credit-fueled
and
concentration, rop substitution,
hifting
abor
demand,
and
rural out-
migration ave
been
observed
in
the
Northeast tate
of
Bahia
(Saint and
Goldsmith
1980).
Labor egislation. he Estatutodo TrabalhadorRural ETR), signed
into
law
in
1963, subsequently modified and
increasingly
enforced,
established for
he rural aborer
series of rights nd guarantees denti-
cal to
those
received
by
urban workers. The
more
important
f
these
include
receipt
of minimum
wage,
annual
paid
vacation,
a 48-hour
work
week,
severance
pay
in
case of
dismissal,
retirement
ension, and a
number of medical
and other social welfarebenefits
Rossini 1977, Chi-
arelli
1976).
At
the
time
these
rightswere
established-and afterward-
most rural
employers
did
not
comply
with
these
requirements, spe-
ciallythose concerning salary, vacation, severance pay, and the work
week. As enforcement
f
this
legislation became
more effective,13
corresponding
strong tendency
was
observed
on the
part
of the
em-
ployersto reduce their esident
abor force and
consequentlytheir egal
obligations)
nd increase
the
use of
temporarywage
laborers
contracted
through the gatos.
Under this
arrangement, he gato rather than
the
farm
owner
is
directly esponsible
forcompliance with the ETR
legisla-
tion.
However, given the transience
nd tenuousness
of employment n
many
boia friawork
groups,
violations
and noncompliance have
been
exceedinglydifficulto prove.
Under
these
conditions,
researchershave
been
quick
to
note
that,
from n
employer's
perspective,
the
boias
friashave certain economic
advantages
over otherforms f
employment Gonzales
and Bastos
1975,
Graziano
da
Silva and
Gasques
1976, Gasques
and Gebara
1977).
While
temporarywage
workers an earn more
than residentworkers
t a
daily
rate, they
earn much less on an
annual basis.
The move
to
temporary
labor
thus results
n
considerable
savings
to
the
employers
ince
in-kind
payments
to
resident
workers
may
represent
s
much
as
27
percent
of
their ncome, and compliancewith abor egislation ncreases aborcosts
by
a
further 7
percent
Gonzales
and
Bastos
1975). Thus, depending
on
the
agreed
conditions
under which the
resident
abor force s
maintained
on
the
farm,
he
switch
to
temporarywage
labor can
result
n
savings
to
the
employers
of
10
to
30
percent.
However, very
ittle
ystematic
ffort
102
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TEMPORARY LABOR IN BRAZILIAN AGRICULTURE
has been made to check
these perceptionsdirectly hrough he analysis
of
farm
ccounting, and
of owner decision-makingprocesses and their
rationalefor hese changes.
Considerable attention
has been given n the iterature
o the role
of
the ETR in the formation f the
boias frias
nd
to
possible legislative
solutions
to the
problems
that hey onfront.A variety f egal violations
have been documented, as well as the boias frias' almost
total lack of
access to
judicial process
(Passos and Aranha 1975,
Graziano da Silva
and Passos
1976). Suggested
legal responses
have included the forma-
tion
of labor
cooperatives,
greatercontrol of gatos
and registration f
temporary aborers, and
land reform Gomes da Silva
and Pinto 1976).
At the
same time, however,
it has been noted that the
application and
enforcement f existing egislationwould probably resolve
most of the
identified roblems
Federaq5o
dos Trabalhadoresna
Agricultura o Es-
tado do Parana
1976).
CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS
The appearance of the boia fria
n
certain regions of
Brazil should not
suggest
that
the
country's
rural
abor force s
being transformed
nto a
large mass
of
free-floating age workers.Rather,
t
appears that
he boia
friahas emerged n responseto particular egion-specific hanges in the
structure
f
agricultural
roduction.
To
the extent
hat
these changes
are
replicated
n
other areas,
the
total number of boias
frias
may increase,
but limits
n
the seasonal fluctuations
f abor demand
suggest
that
this
number
s
not
likely
to
surpass
the
25 percent proportion
of
the labor
force hat
t
now constitutes
n
the more developed agricultural reas
of
Brazil. However, further
nderstanding f specific gricultural evelop-
ment contextsand
associated local agro-social change
processes
in re-
gions outside Sao Paulo-particularly
theNortheast, heAmazon and the
centralwestcerradoswill be necessaryto substantiate hisobservation.
The extent o which
the
boias frias epresent fully ndependent
rural
proletariatmay
also
be
questioned. Reinforcing
he
need
for om-
parative
ocal
studies
on
temporarywage labor,
Goodman
(1977, p. 25)
notes the
difficulty
f
distinguishing
ree nd dependent
socioeconomic
relationships
between
employer
nd
worker,
nd
suggests
that
aggre-
gative
data
on
wage employment
re
unlikely
to
provide
reliable
mea-
sures
of rural
proletarianization.
Although
Goodman's
remarks
efer o
the
Brazilian
Northeast,
ome
of the recent
Sao
Paulo research
suggests
theirpossible relevance forthat region as well. Furtherstudy of the
turma
firme,
or
xample,
mightprove enlightening
n
this
regard.
The
existenceof
stable
work
groups
thatare
employed
the year around
on
a
single
farm
mplies
that
employer-worker elationships may
be
more
than
purely economic. Similarly,
he
portion
of boias frias omprisedby
103
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esearch
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sporadic
laborers-usually women and
children
not
regularly
n the ob
market-is
hardly consistent with traditional
conceptions
of a rural
proletariat.
At the same time, complementary ines of investigationmight
serve
to further nderstandingof the particular ircumstances
hat en-
gender and sustain temporary
wage laborers as an identifiable
ocial
group. Since these workers
also have
the option of seeking urban em-
ployment-and
indeed
some
of themdo on a periodicbasis-the
degree
of articulation
etween urban and rural abor marketsmightbe explored
profitably.
n this context,
there s a need to comprehend
the boia fria
phenomenon
in
relation
to
the broader dynamics
of Brazilian
economic
policies.
For
example, trade
policies may
favor xport rops over domes-
ticfood production, nd exchange-rate oliciesmay result n overvalued
currencies
that implicitly ax
the traditionally xport-oriented
rimary
sector. Such
policies
tend to turnthe termsof trade against
agriculture,
and
their
negative
interaction ffects ave the strongest
mpact on the
smaller
farms.Rural
labor generallybears
the
brunt of this
mplicit ax
burden
n
the form f
imitedreturns
nd
low wages.
Greater attention
o
sex and
age
differentialsmong temporary
agricultural
aborers
might
assist
in the
comprehension
of
evolving
family
urvival
strategies
within
ow-income
populations,
which have
been severelypressed bythegrowing ncomeinequitiesof recentyears.
Family budget
and
life-cycle
nalysis
could
well
generate
enlightening
information
n this
subject.
Very
ittleresearch
has
been
done on
temporarywage laborers'
own
view of
their
history,
heir
personal
ideologies,
and
their
potential
for
mobilization
through cooperatives,
rural
unionization,
or
political
movements.14
This
topic
s
particularlymportant
n
Brazil's current
o-
litical
setting.
Recent
political
party restructuring, reater
tolerance
of
divergent pinions,
and
growing
rural ocial tensions have combined
to
produce a resurgenceof ruralpoliticaland social mobilization ctivities
unequalled
in
over a
decade.
Finally,
the
role of
basic infrastructure evelopment,
primarily
roads,
in
creating
he
preconditions
or
both
capital-intensive
griculture
and
the use
of urban-based farm
aborers
might
be
fruitfullyxplored.
Since
many
ntegrated
ural
developmentprojects
place
heavy emphasis
on
infrastructure,
here
may
be
an
association
between such
efforts nd
the
expansion
of
wage
labor use
in
agriculture.
It
is difficulto udge
the
degree
to which the boia friamay repre-
sent a transitoryocial phenomenon in thehistory fBrazilianagricul-
tural
development.
As
long
as
rural
wages
remain
ow-currently $2.00
to
$4.00 per day-it
seems
unlikely
hat mechanization will
replace
the
boia
fria.
5
If, however,
future
overnment
ocial
and economic
policies
address
productively
he
structural
roblems
of rural ncome
inequality,
104
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TEMPORARY LABOR
IN BRAZILIAN AGRICULTURE
enhanced rural ncomes
could raise the cost
of abor to the point where
mechanized substitution
f labor might occur on a large scale.
Under
these circumstances,
he large bulk of boias friascould well pass
from
sporadic employment o chronicunemployment.
Social and economic policies under the administration f
Brazil's
president, Gen. Joao Baptista
de
Figueiredo,
who took office n
March
1979, appear
unlikely o cause any major change in the social conditions
under
which the boia
fria
ives and works. Nevertheless, some new
developments may
be forthcoming. utgoing
Minister f Labor Arnaldo
Prieto noted that efforts
re
underway to
organize boias frias nto abor
cooperatives
thatwould permitworkers
o
negotiatedirectly nd
collec-
tively
with
employers.
At the
same time, effectivemeans of ncorporat-
ing boias friaswithin he rural abor unions are also under discussion.
In
this setting,
significant overnment
nitiativewas launched
in 1979
n
the effort o create politicalopening
and redemocratize
the
country. his undertakinghas created a less
repressivepolitical nviron-
ment
in
which organized labor can begin
to articulate lass-based
de-
mands for
wage adjustments
and
improved
working conditions.
For
example,
a
wildcat strike
y
Pernambuco sugar-cane workers
n October
1979
was
accompanied by petitions
for
alary ncreases, household
plots
for
subsistence
cultivation,
nd
improved
transportation ecurity
for
boias frias.Morerecently,nMay 1980, agriculturalworkers n thenewly
established coffee rea
of Bahia initiated strike
n
an effort o obtain
a
$4.00 per day wage,
equal pay forwomen, half-timework for hildren,
overtime
ompensation,
and
employer
compliance
with
egislated
abor
regulations.
Moreover,
a
governmentprogram
of limited agrarianreform
has
been
launched recently
n
selective
areas of extreme ocial
tension.
For example,
an Amazon
area twice the size of New York state recently
was placed
under National
Security
Council
jurisdiction
with
the
pur-
pose ofeffectingocalized land reform.Additionally, numberofland
redistribution rojects
for
the
impoverished
Northeast region
are
now
being prepared
forWorld
Bank and Inter-American
evelopment
Bank
funding.
In
this
context,
some landless
workers are
likely
to
regain
access
to
land,
either
through
distribution
f
public
terrains or
local
colonization
programs.
Greater remedial attention s also
being given
to
disadvantaged
rural
groups through government
activities
imed
at
improving
rural
housing, education, and
health
services.
However,
Brazil's current
co-
nomicdifficultiesimit harply heresources vailable for uchprograms.
Consequently,
continuing
Brazilian
dependence
on
petroleum
mports
and
associated
inflation
nd
balance-of-payments ressures suggest
that
in
the shortrun little
more than cosmetic attentionwill
be given
to
the
problems
of
the
country's
ix million
boias frias.16
105
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esearch
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NOTES
1. Literally
ranslated,
oia riameans cold lunch. The term
erives rom he
day
laborers' racticef arryingheirunchwith hem otheir ork n the ield. empor-arywage aborersrealsoknown s volante,
au-de-arara,ilao, iroloSao
Paulo
nd
Paranai),landestino,aatingueiro
Pernambuco),
vulso
Bahia),
iscateiror
changueiro
(RioGrande
o Sul).
2. In
many
ways,
his s
theBrazilian
quivalent
o the
English
enclosure
movement
which
ccurred
n
the ixteenth
entury,
nd
s described
y
Marx
1906, :788-805),
who notes
he ubstitution
f
ropped
and
bypasture
or
heep
nd
cattle,he
on-
centration
f and
ownership,
he
ransformation
f ommonands
nto
rivate rop-
erty,
nd
the reation
f
large
roup
f andless
wage
aborers.
3.
In
Parana,
neighboring
tate f
Sao Paulo,
here
re n
estimated
00,000
oiasfrias
(Murad, 976).There, oo,
attle-raising
as
replaced
offee,ausing and concentra-
tion,
nemployment,
nd
changing
abor elations
s
documented
y MaxineMar-
golis 1973).
n other
reas
of he
tate, offee,
hich
equires
6
person-daysf aborfor achhectare lanted, as beenreplaced ythemechanized ultivationf soy-
beans
and
wheat,
which
equire
nly person-days
nd
2
person-days
f
abor
er
hectare lanted, espectively
Murad, 976).
4.
The
table
1
percentagesre
onlyroughly omparable ith imilar
alculations or
MexicoDotson nd Dotson
978, . 694),which
howedproportionsfurban ased
agriculturalists
rom
to
9
percent
n
majormetropolitanringereas.
5.
Overall
articipation
f hildren
ged
fourteen
nd under
n
Brazilian
gricultureas
been calculated s
16
percent
f
the
economically
ctive
opulation
n
the
primary
sector
Brant 979, . 38).
In one
Sao
Paulo
study,
hich nterviewed
03
female
g-
riculturalorkers,verhalf
eportedhat hey ad
entered heruralabor orce e-
fore he ge of
welve ears
Oliveira 978, . 41).
6. For a
general iscussion f women n
Brazil's
abor
force, ee Madeira nd Singer
(1975).
7. In
exceptional
ases,
the abor
gang
boss
may
be
a
woman.
See
Gomes
da
Silva
(1977).
8. For
discussions
frecent
hanges
n
rural ocial elations
hat ocus
irectly
n
these
differential
roups,
ee
Antuniassi
1976);
Oliveira eto
1977); tein,
Medeiros, nd
Garcia 1977);
allum
Junior
1978);
nd Brant
1979).
For
an
extensiveuantitative
descriptionf hese
groups
or
razil
s
a
whole, ee
Graziano
a
Silva
1978b).
9. For critiquef he
arly
oia fria
iterature
hat
mphasizes
his
oint, ee Goodman
and
Redcift1977).
10.
Much f he
debate
n
theboiafria henomenon,
s well s many f
he tudies ited
here,
ccurred
n
the
ngoing
orums
rovided y
he
nnual onferences
n
agricul-
tural
wage
aborheld t the
Universidade
stadual aulista ulio e
Mesquita ilho,
located n Botucatu, ao Paulo,and sponsored ytheDepartmento e Economia
Rural rom
975 o 1980.
11.
This project
s
one of
threemajorresearch
ffortsn the theme
inanced y the
Ministry
f
Labor;
t s
currently
he
only
ne
that
s
concluded ndpublished. he
other wo
re:
the
nstituto
oaquim abuco
for
emambuco tate
nd the nstituto
Paranaense
e Desenvolvimentoconomico
Social-IPARDES
for
arana
tate.
12.
In 1977
otal
gricultural
redit
rovided
n
Brazil
wasapproximately
23.5billion, n
amount lmost
qual
n
value
to
the
gricultural
NP
Since
most f hese
oanscar-
ried
nterestates
ower
han herate f
nflation,
hereal
nterestate
was
negative.
The results
a
very
izable ocial
ubsidy
f
he
griculturalector.
13.
There re several
pparent easonsfor ncreased
nforcement.
ural aborunions
havebecome
more ctive
n
defending orkers'ights,specially ince
hey ave n
manynstancesome o ncorporatenion ontractedawyers hoprovide ree egal
assistance
o
unionmembers. fficialolerationf
hese
ndeavors,
nd ofunion
c-
tivities
enerally, ay
be
due
to
efforts
o reduce he
ocial
ensions
rising
rom
x-
treme ncome
nequality
n
rural
reas,
o
the
declining olitical
nfluences
f
rural
elites
s Brazil
ecomes
ncreasinglyrbanized,
nd to
conscious
overnment
fforts
to
expand
hemarkets or
omestic onsumer
roductsy
providing
ural
opula-
106
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TEMPORARY LABOR
IN BRAZILIAN AGRICULTURE
tions
withguarantees
or ome
cashincome
nd associated
ncreased
urchasing
power.
14.
A partial xception
s
Sab6ia
1978)
who analyzes heworld
views stemming
rom
boia fria urvival trategiesnd theorganizationalotentialnherentn theseper-
spectives.
15.
Atthe
presentxchange
ate,
r$100 o Cr$200.
16.
Brazil
resentlymports
5 percent
f tspetroleumeeds. nflation
or 980was
ap-
proximately
10percent.
he
country'soreign
ebt
s over 54billion nd
rising.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Note:
MOVA
=
Mao deObra
Volantea Agricultura
UEPJMF
=
Universidade
Estadual
Paulista Julio
de Mesquita
Filho
ANGELELI,
W. A.; VANNUCHI,
H;
AND DUTRA DE
OLIVEIRA,
J. E.
1978 Estado Nutricional
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Americanesearch eview
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