Mediações e distinções entre associativismo e sindicalismo de professores públicos no Ceará (1962- 1992) : A APEOC/Sindicato e o SINDIUTE
Abstract
This study discusses the mediations and distinctions between association and teacher
union, from the unionism phase to the formation of the teacher unions APEOC and
SINDIUTE, in Ceará. In the early phase of unionism in the late 1970s, besides the
appearance of union leaders, there was the presence of associative model in public
school teachers’ movement in Ceará, in APEOC, an organization founded in the 1960s,
a period that demarcated the effervescence of associations in secondary school teaching.
By the end of the 1980s, with the decline of that model, in the midst of the conformation
of the teacher union, two union tendencies set up, which soon after would dispute the
leadership in the movement. After the 1988 Carta Magna, with the concession of the
right the employees in the civil service have to self-organization, two unions were
founded aiming to represent the same category: teachers and civil servants from state
and municipal schools in Ceará, and they would have a political and legal dispute for
space in the union movement. APEOC/Union, a substitute of the Association, defended
the tendency on a propositional unionism. SINDIUTE, in turn, was founded under the
speech which proclaimed the defense of a militant unionism. In the face of their
singularities, in relation to the national scenario, this research’s main aim is to examine
the mediations and distinctions between association and unionism, in the process of
foundation of APEOC and SINDIUTE teacher unions. Until then, the association’s role,
in the unionism phase, constituted a branch rarely addressed to the literature of the area.
Besides, there were a few studies about the associative phase in Ceará. Thus, this study
has the following specific aims: to analyze the quantitative aspects of the academic
production about association and teacher unionism, as well as the approaches present in
the area; to investigate traces of the teacher associative stage and the context of
expansion of secondary education in Ceará, and also the educational reforms in the
1970s; to reflect on the formation of the union trends from the unionism to the
foundation phase of APEOC and SINDIUTE teacher unions. The field research was one
of the supports documentary research, since this allowed a rapprochement with the
research object, through sources collected over the period investigated. Our analysis
focused on the period between 1962 and 1992. The first one is justified by the fact that
it represents the moment of emergence of secondary teachers’ associative movement,
during the phase of expansion of secondary education, period when APEOC was
founded, the year 1992, on the other hand, marks the foundation of SINDIUTE. During
the data collection we interviewed 10 teachers who participated in the movement’s
leadership, and 4 teachers who worked in secondary school in the 1960s. The survey
also included data collection from public libraries located in the city of Fortaleza. The
data analysis showed the importance of educational reforms, including the Reform of 1st
and 2nd grades, and leftist movements, during the teacher association’s stage in Ceará.
Despite the decline of associative model in teaching movement in the 1980s, its legacy
influenced the unionism phase, not only in the configuration of union trends, but also in
consolidating APEOC/Union, as one of the major organizations in the state of Ceará.