Santos, Cledna Marques dos; https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3642-1373; http://lattes.cnpq.br/0328421277705895
Resumo:
Public service work is circumscribed by social transformations and changes in the world of
work guided by a neoliberal perspective, especially through productive restructuring. This
process imposed a logic of flexibility, institutionalized by the State counter-reform, with an
emphasis on managerialism that reorganizes its structure and labor management. Within this
context lies UFBA, which, like other federal universities, is permeated by the process of
counter-reforms. This movement is materialized in successive budget cuts and the adoption of
a managerial logic, with direct impacts on the work of social workers. Although these
professionals still retain guaranteed labor and social security rights, they face constant threats
and progressive reductions that broadly affect public servants. In view of this, this study
investigated how precarization manifests itself in the work of social workers at UFBA, based
on the following specific objectives: to characterize the socioeconomic and educational profile
of social workers; to understand the working conditions and labor relations of these
professionals at UFBA; to identify the repercussions of labor precarization on the health of
social workers; and to identify the resistance strategies adopted by social workers in the context
of precarization. The research adopted a qualitative and quantitative approach, grounded in
critical social theory and linked to Research Line 02, “Social Theory, Work, and Social Work,”
of the Graduate Program in Social Work (PPGSS) at the Institute of Psychology and Social
Work (IPSS) of UFBA. The research subjects were social workers, part of the university’s
technical-administrative staff, with active employment under the Single Legal Regime (RJU).
Data collection with these professionals occurred in two stages: an electronic questionnaire
(Google Forms) with open and closed questions, answered by fifteen professionals; and six
interviews with participants from units with the highest concentration of social workers. The
results showed that precarization manifests itself in the objective and subjective conditions of
professional work, with varying intensity among socio-occupational spaces. It was found that,
although the number of social workers increased by approximately 65% (15) between 2004 and
June 2022, this growth did not proportionally follow the expansion of demands driven by
programs such as REUNI and PNAES, nor the adequacy of infrastructure and resources.
Consequently, the effects include overload, an intense work pace, pressure for deadlines and
targets, frequent overtime, and severe restrictions on autonomy and professional recognition,
impacting the physical and mental health of professionals and creating obstacles to collective
organization for more effective resistance strategies.
