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The Shifting Ground of Globalization
Labor and Mineral Extraction at Vale S.A.
Series: - Studies in Critical Social Sciences, Volume: 239/21
- New Scholarship in Political Economy, Volume: 239/21
Author:
The Shifting Ground of Globalization: Labor and Mineral Extraction at Vale S.A. describes the transformation of the formerly state-owned Brazilian mining company into a Transnational Corporation, global leader in iron ore and nickel extraction. Through ethnographic research in Brazil and Canada, in places as different as Carajás, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, and Sudbury, in northern Ontario, Thiago Aguiar dialogues with the theories of global capitalism and takes the case of the largest Latin American company as a telling example of the integration of the Brazilian economy into capitalist globalization and its consequences for workers, communities, and the environment in the first decades of the twenty-first century â when many celebrated the BRICS as an alternative to neoliberal globalization.
Thiago Aguiar holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of São Paulo, and was visiting researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Sociology at IFCH-Unicamp and an associate researcher at the Center for the Study of Citizenship Rights (Cenedic-USP). He is also the author of O solo movediço da globalização: trabalho e extração mineral na Vale S.A. (Boitempo, 2022) and Maquiando o trabalho: opacidade e transparência numa empresa de cosméticos global (Annablume, 2017).
Acknowledgements
List of Figures and Tables
Acronyms
Introduction Walking on Shifting Ground
â1âA Period of Crisis and the General Direction of Change
â2âGlobal Capitalism, Transnational Capital and Labor: An Approach
â3âFraming Multi-situated Social Phenomena: Global Production Networks (gpn âs), Corporate Strategies, and International Trade Union Networks
â4âSome Methodological Notes: Ethnographic Inspiration and the âExtended Case Methodâ
1âFrom Companhia Vale do Rio Doce to Vale S.A.
â1âThecvrd âs Privatization and the Internationalization Leap
â2âThe Mineral Commodity Boom and Post-boom
â3âChanges and Continuity in the Strategy for Labor and Union Relations after Privatization
â4âSome Characteristics of Valeâs Iron Oregpn in Brazil
2âCorporate Power and Union Fragmentation Valeâs Labor and Union Relations Strategy in Brazil
â1âEntering the Field in a Period of Crisis
â2âCollective Power Weakened
â3âThe First Driver of the Carajás Railroad
â4âEmployee Representation in Valeâs Board of Directors
â5âThe Challenges of Entering Carajás
â6ââItâs Always Good to Know Who Youâre Talking Toâ
3âVale Buys a Canadian Treasure Restructuring, Strike, and International Trade Union Network
â1ââThe Great Canadian Mining Non-disasterâ
â2âA Brazilian Mother-in-Law for the Orphans of âMother Incoâ
â3âA Powerful Multinational Union with Deep Local Roots
â4ââIt Canât Be Easy to Have Me as a Bossâ
â5âDefeat or Victory?
â6âValeâs International Trade Union Network: A Frustrated Experience
4âGlobal Capitalism, Pension Funds and Valeâs âNew Corporate Governanceâ as a Manner of Conclusion
â1âThe Pension Funds and the Control of Vale after Privatization
â2âThe Relationship with the Federal Government and the Role ofbndes in the Companyâs Financial Strategy
â3âPension Funds and the Transnationalization of Vale
â4âValeâs âNew Corporate Governanceâ after the Commodity Boom: Reorientation of Pension Funds and Increased Presence of Transnational Investors
Epilogue Vale S.A., a Transnational Corporation on the Shifting Ground of Globalization
Bibliography
Index
List of Figures and Tables
Acronyms
Introduction Walking on Shifting Ground
â1âA Period of Crisis and the General Direction of Change
â2âGlobal Capitalism, Transnational Capital and Labor: An Approach
â3âFraming Multi-situated Social Phenomena: Global Production Networks (
â4âSome Methodological Notes: Ethnographic Inspiration and the âExtended Case Methodâ
1âFrom Companhia Vale do Rio Doce to Vale S.A.
â1âThe
â2âThe Mineral Commodity Boom and Post-boom
â3âChanges and Continuity in the Strategy for Labor and Union Relations after Privatization
â4âSome Characteristics of Valeâs Iron Ore
2âCorporate Power and Union Fragmentation Valeâs Labor and Union Relations Strategy in Brazil
â1âEntering the Field in a Period of Crisis
â2âCollective Power Weakened
â3âThe First Driver of the Carajás Railroad
â4âEmployee Representation in Valeâs Board of Directors
â5âThe Challenges of Entering Carajás
â6ââItâs Always Good to Know Who Youâre Talking Toâ
3âVale Buys a Canadian Treasure Restructuring, Strike, and International Trade Union Network
â1ââThe Great Canadian Mining Non-disasterâ
â2âA Brazilian Mother-in-Law for the Orphans of âMother Incoâ
â3âA Powerful Multinational Union with Deep Local Roots
â4ââIt Canât Be Easy to Have Me as a Bossâ
â5âDefeat or Victory?
â6âValeâs International Trade Union Network: A Frustrated Experience
4âGlobal Capitalism, Pension Funds and Valeâs âNew Corporate Governanceâ as a Manner of Conclusion
â1âThe Pension Funds and the Control of Vale after Privatization
â2âThe Relationship with the Federal Government and the Role of
â3âPension Funds and the Transnationalization of Vale
â4âValeâs âNew Corporate Governanceâ after the Commodity Boom: Reorientation of Pension Funds and Increased Presence of Transnational Investors
Epilogue Vale S.A., a Transnational Corporation on the Shifting Ground of Globalization
Bibliography
Index
Social scientists, geographers, economists, journalists and all interested in capitalist globalization, Transnational Corporations (TNCs), BRICS and Latin American studies, Vale, mining, labor and environmental issues.