São Bernardo do Campo’s industrial past and union legacy shape Brazil’s labor-class political awakening

The 1964 coup and **Institutional Act No. 5 (1968)** legalized the repression that crushed São Bernardo’s unions, yet this is treated as backdrop, not cause. The **1978 strike’s suppression**—where workers were fired en masse—directly enabled neoliberalism’s rise, as state violence replaced collective bargaining. Comparing this to **Chile’s 1973 coup** or **Argentina’s 1976 Dirty War** reveals how authoritarian labor policies in Latin America were **designed by U.S. and corporate actors** (e.g., Ford’s ties to the CIA), a dimension missing from the personalizing narrative.