Abstract
This report aims at describing the union assistance, based on social psychology of work and worker’s health, provided for the maintenance workers of a Brazilian public university. After a strike for improvements in working conditions and measures to combat moral harassment, a group of workers and researchers (undergraduate, graduate, post-doctoral researchers and professors) was formed and a project based on participatory intervention research was built up. Throughout two years, the following activities were developed: researchers participation in the meetings organized by workers; workplaces visits; discussions on moral harassment, work conditions and organization; individual and group interviews; clinical care. These activities allowed to intervene in the workers’ training and in the assistance provided to minimize the suffering caused by violence at work, as well as to rescue both the value of work and workers’ knowledge. It was possible to recognize that the work instabilities and precariousness have been source of suffering and conflicts. We found that workers have a valuable knowledge about the university, their own work and the changes in course, as well as about the consequences of the accelerated advancement of outsourcing and the dismantling of various university sectors.
Keywords:
social psychology of work; occupational health; precariousness of work; public university; participatory research