Rural workers and Labour Justice: the Estatuto do Trabalhador Rural in Brazil's cacao region, 1963-1973 Frank J. 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Abstract This is an historical study of Brazil's system of labour courts known as Labour Justice (Justiga do Trabalho), in particular the relation between Labour Justice and rural workers. The focus is a case study of a local labour court {junta) in the Municipality of Ilheus, in the state of Bahia, a region dedicated to the monoculture of cacao. The case study analyses contested claims for labour rights filed by rural workers under the ETR {Estatuto do Trabalhador Rural or Rural Worker Statute), enacted in 1963 and repealed in 1973. An introductory chapter sets out an abbreviated history of labour law in Brazil, leading to the enactment of the CLT {Consolidacao das Lets do Trabalho or Consolidation of Labour Laws) in 1943, a labour law regime which incorporated rural workers through the enactment of the ETR in 1963 and which has remained in force under various political regimes up to the present (2009). The chapter then sets out my approach to the issues of legal and socio-legal theory relevant to the study of Labour Justice. Following this introduction, the dissertation is divided into three parts. The first part examines the campaign of the agrarian social movement for labour rights (1945- 1964), using the "interactional approach" recommended by Charles Tilly for the study of social movements. In the cacao region, rural workers joined the national campaign for labour rights, a demand which the central state accommodated by enacting the ETR on the eve of a military coup which was designed (in part) to crush the agrarian social movement. The regional campaign was relatively successful, despite the economic and political power of the region's growers known as the coroneis do cacau (cacao colonels) — made famous through the novels of Jorge Amada. The second part examines the system of Labour Justice, beginning with the construction of Labour Justice as a "juridical field" (Bourdieu). I then consider the approach of Labour Justice, first to disputes between unions and employers over issues of collective bargaining {dissidios iv coletivos or collective disputes), then to claims by workers for individual labour rights (dissidios individuals or individual disputes). The third part is the case study of the local labour court (junta). After describing the social space which the junta occupied ~ including its relations with the local labour bar, the coronets and the rural unions -- the case study examines the procedural and substantive issues with which the presiding judge (Antonio Vieira) was confronted. A notable feature of the case study is that for most of the time period in question the political regime, despite being a military dictatorship, allowed Labour Justice to function as a relatively autonomous juridical field. The case study concludes that although the Ilheus junta provided a coherent forum in which the labour rights of cacao workers were protected, the limitations of state law, and its limited recourse to effective means of coercion, allowed the cacao growers to comply with some provisions of the ETR and to resist others. I argue that the promise of labour rights was not fulfilled in the cacao region for three reasons: the change in the political regime brought about by the military coup, structural defects in the labour law regime, and the flawed performance of the region's rural unions. Keywords: Brazil, labour, justice, Bahia, Ilheus, cacao v Acknowledgments My introduction to Brazil was as a delegate to the first World Social Forum in Porto Alegre in 2001, thanks to my former employer, the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW). Through the CAW I was introduced to Fernando Lopes — formerly of the Brazilian metalworkers confederation (CNM/CUT) and now of the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) — who tutored me on Brazilian labour politics and facilitated a six month sabbatical at the Universidade Federal de Bahia (UFBA). My work at the CAW also connected me to an UFBA sociologist, Eduardo Paes Machado, who guided me through the complexities of Bahia's sociological make-up. My friendship with Fernando, Eduardo and their families is a cherished part of my Brazilian experience. The members of UFBA's Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, in particular its graduate programme in history, were generous with their time and expertise. Antonio Guerreiro de Freitas advised me to look beyond the Reconcavo region, which led me to Ilheus. Antonio (Gino) Negro inspired my interest in the social history of the Fourth Republic and provided extensive insight, references, and friendship. My research project began to take shape when Fernando sparked my curiosity about Labour Justice. He introduced me to Judge Maria Adna Aguiar of the regional labour tribunal in Salvador, who in turn introduced me to her colleague Judge Vania Chaves. With the support of Judge Adna and Judge Vania, the doors of Labour Justice were opened to me, both at the regional tribunal and at the local junta in Ilheus. The next step was to locate the Labour Justice archive. The files generated by individual claims were kept locally. Lacking the material resources required to preserve their closed files, local juntas throughout Brazil had developed the practice of burning these files whenever a shortage of storage space developed. The files of the Ilheus junta were saved from burning by Janete Ruiz de Macedo, the director of CEDOC at the Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (UESC). When the junta announced that its archive would be burned, she created the Arquivo Juridico Joao Mangabeira (AJJM) to preserve vi the files. At CEDOC-UESC, Professor Janete provided full access to the AJJM collection, and her successor, Andre Ribeiro, shared his work on regional history. Joao Cordeiro de Andrade worked with me on a daily basis and entrusted me with the results of his own research. We share a special bond because were born the same date in the same year. Joao introduced me to Alvaro Souza Neto who worked as my research assistant, advised me on the regional culture and became a good friend. Senildo Santana Paulo helped me settle in to daily life in Ilheus and imparted his experiences with local legal and political culture. Several other Brazilian colleagues gave generously of their time and expertise: Antonio Dias, who recounted his activist experience with the agrarian social movement; Rita Pereira and Jose Raimundo Fontes at the Universidade Estadual do Sul de Bahia (UESB) in Vitoria de Conquista; Joao Marcelo at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp). In addition, two historians from the U.S., Mary Ann Mahony and Clifford Welch, helped and advised at different intervals along the way. Osgoode Hall Law School provided generous administrative and financial assistance through its graduate programme.