In 2018, the Fondation Fundacentro, the Brazilian federal agency responsible for occupational health, decided to publish a Brazilian Portuguese translation of an ETUI book on workplace prevention via posters. The ETUI is happy to thus contribute to the discussion on the importance of trade union action on occupational health.
In 2013, the European Trade Union Institute organised a poster exhibition on the history of prevention. Entitled “The art of preventive health and safety in Europe”, a catalogue containing the exhibited posters and a study carried out by the historian, Alfredo Menéndez Navarro from the University of Granada (Spain) was subsequently published. Circulated widely, the book was available in four versions: in French, Spanish, English and German. It highlights the importance of independent trade union action for improving working conditions.
The initiative comes at a particularly critical moment in time for labour in Brazil. The new government headed by extreme-right President Bolsonaro has just launched a frontal attack on the trade union movement. He has even decided to shut down the Ministry of Labour and hand over most of its competences to the Ministry of Economy headed by the ultra-liberal economist, Paulo Guedes. The latter was a great supporter of General Pinochet's economic policies in Chile in the 1980s. Other competences are to be handed over to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security headed by former judge, Sergio Moro, whose legal proceedings against former Brazilian President Inácio Lula da Silva were very controversial.