Centro de Memória Sindical/Trade Union Memory Center (Brazil)

What is the CMS?

The Trade Union Memory Center (CMS) is an inter-union, non-profit, independent institution, not formally linked to any trade union, central union, or other organization.

Our main activities:

• As a research center – maintaining and organizing our own archive so that it fulfills its social, technical, scientific, cultural, artistic, and historical functions, making it accessible to the public.
• In cultural dissemination – organizing debate cycles (in 2011 and 2012), editing our website, and producing articles on history, cinema, and music in light of the world of work.
• In preserving oral memory – conducting interviews and collecting life stories. We have archived testimonies of important trade unionists, many already deceased, such as Gregório Bezerra, Affonso Delelis, and Joaquim dos Santos Andrade, among others. In 2010, we resumed collecting such testimonies, either as part of specific projects (focusing on union history) or for our own archive – as in the case of Derly José de Carvalho, founder of the Metalworkers’ Union of São Bernardo, whose testimony is available on our website.
  • Note: we also published on our website testimonies from the project marking the 50th anniversary of DIEESE (with Hugo Perez, Valter Barelli, Monica Veloso, Lenina Pomeranz).

• Providing services to unions – carrying out projects to recover and safeguard history. Since 2010, when our headquarters moved from the Textile Workers’ Union to the National Union of Retirees (thanks to space granted by President João Inocentini), we have held photo exhibitions, published books and magazines, organized debates, and produced special projects.

In short, the CMS is a space for research, debates, cultural production, and dissemination, whose primary purpose is to demonstrate that history is made, above all, by workers.

The basis of CMS actions is the understanding of the world of work in its historical, sociological, and symbolic dimensions.

The institution is maintained by unions that pay monthly fees. Currently, there are only 13 supporting unions, all from São Paulo, affiliated with different union confederations.

How the CMS was created

In an interview, Sergio Gomes, from Oboré (one of the founders), explained:

• When the wage-restoration strikes began in 1978 in São Bernardo, spreading throughout the ABC region, São Paulo, Osasco, Guarulhos, and elsewhere, he and a group of journalists founded Oboré, a “journalists’ cooperative” that worked for the trade union movement and covered those strikes. The idea, according to Sergio, was for Oboré to be an active, participatory press, influencing union debates rather than just recording the news.
• They gathered journalists, researchers, and others, and conducted interviews with strike participants. From these testimonies, they published a booklet called “The Strike in the Workers’ Voice.”
• After completing the book, they decided to archive all the material – tapes, transcripts, etc. – and to continue collecting testimonies from trade unionists willing to participate. Remember, this was still during the military dictatorship, and because of political persecution, not everyone agreed to be interviewed.

From this, a group formed the Movement for the Creation of the Trade Union Memory Center, which included people like Carmen Evangelho, who still collaborates with the Center.

The idea was that once they had 10 supporting unions and at least 200 hours of recorded testimonies, they would formalize the CMS. This movement lasted from 1978 to 1980.

The CMS was officially founded on June 14, 1980, at the Metalworkers’ Union of São Paulo (then located on Rua do Carmo), with the support of its president, Joaquim dos Santos Andrade (Joaquinzão).

• Hugo Perez, of the Electricians’ Union and then president of DIEESE, was the first president of CMS.
• He was followed by Antonio Toschi, Cláudio Magrão (Metalworkers of Osasco), and Milton Cavalo, the current president, who is also treasurer of the Metalworkers’ Union of Osasco.

The idea was that CMS would function as an inter-union institution, providing services to unions, similar to DIEESE and DIESAT (also created in 1980), and maintained by union contributions.

During this period, CMS published works such as May 1st by José Luiz Del Roio and Crônica Subversiva by Astrogildo Pereira (founder of the Communist Party of Brazil in 1922). This activity continued until the early 1990s, after which CMS entered a period of inactivity, only to be revived in 2010.

The importance of our work

The CMS is part of a broader national context of memory recovery, after many years in which society neglected its archives and historical heritage.

For example, when we interviewed Derly José de Carvalho, founder of the Metalworkers’ Union of São Bernardo, he told us that only in 2011 was he contacted for the first time by the union’s memory department to tell his story. Despite his trajectory – founding the union nearly ten years before Lula emerged, joining Brizola’s “Group of 11,” participating in the 1961 Legalidade Campaign for Jango’s inauguration, being part of the PCdoB and Ala Vermelha, training in China and Albania, and being exchanged for the Swiss ambassador in 1970 – his testimony had never been recorded until then.

Recovering workers’ history is essential to:

• Build the identity of workers as an organized, active social group capable of shaping history, as seen in 1968, 1978, and in the minimum wage marches;
• Preserve documents with unique informational and legal value, usable as evidence and records;
• Contribute to initiatives like the National Truth Commission, in which CMS actively participated (2013–2014, during Dilma Rousseff’s government), as part of the Trade Unionists’ Working Group.

The Truth Commission

It is fundamental that unions engage in this debate to demand justice for their members who were ousted, persecuted, tortured, killed, or otherwise wronged.

For example, the Metalworkers’ Union of São Paulo, with its long history since 1932, must reclaim the memory of leaders such as:

• Affonso Delellis, union president in 1963, soon deposed and forced underground;
• Manoel Fiel Filho, killed by the DOI-CODI in 1976 during Operation Bandeirantes;
• Santo Dias, murdered in 1979;
• Olavo Hansen, a union opposition member who died under torture.

Challenges

• 2017: After the coup against Dilma Rousseff, Michel Temer’s government implemented liberal reforms, the most significant being the Labor Reform. This severely damaged the union structure by cutting off its financial base. Many services were shut down and staff dismissed. CMS was also hit, losing member unions and reducing archive maintenance services.
• 2019–2022: The crisis continued under Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right government and was worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted the economy and unions.
• 2022 onwards: The election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva brought relief to the people and the labor movement, since Lula comes from the working class and is sensitive to workers’ issues. The first years of his government have been dedicated to reversing previous setbacks, and more recently, the country has shown significant progress. Still, the union crisis that began in 2017 remains. CMS resists, but its structure is weaker than it was before Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment.

Workers’ Struggle Day

Since 2019, CMS has participated annually in Workers’ Struggle Day.

The date was created in 2017 by then-councilman Antonio Donato, during the centennial of the 1917 General Strike – the first general strike in Brazil, which took place in São Paulo and resulted in the deaths of several workers and policemen.

One of those killed was José Martinez, a 21-year-old Spanish immigrant who became the martyr of that strike. In his honor, CMS awards the José Martinez Prize to individuals who make significant contributions to workers’ organizations.

Workers’ Struggle Day is organized by trade union confederations, the office of (now state deputy) Antonio Donato, and memory organizations such as the Trade Union Memory Center.

São Paulo, September 3, 2025

Carolina Maria Ruy, Coordinator of the Trade Union Memory Center