Um salto no escuro: trajetórias de sofrimento e de resistência entre ex-servidores pedevistas

Abstract

A leap in the dark is an expression from one of the twelve interviews throughout this research with former Federal Public servants, which joined one of the three Voluntary Resignation Program (Programa de Demissão Voluntária or PDV) implemented by the FHC government. The PDVs are part of so-called structural reforms (which I will call neoliberal counter-reform), implemented during the 1990s and early 2000s. The political and economic transformations that have taken place in this period had devastating effects, especially for workers. Almost twenty years after the first PDV, precariousness and vulnerability still crease the trajectories of these subjects. Seven of the interviewees said that after the adhesion to PDV never had formal employment any more. Many, already at an advanced age and impaired health, do not even have the prospect of returning to formal market. The dramatic narratives reveal the impact of neoliberalism on the lives of these individuals. But research has shown us that, in addition to reports of pain, there are stories resistance, especially among those who organized the movement for the Reintegration of Pedevistas (or MURP). For these, the militancy has played a fundamental role in maintaining their physical and mental integrity. Besides the interviews, the participation in some of the Pedevista movement´s meetings and the analysis of documents and newspaper material about PDV were fundamental for the conclusions of this dissertation.