The Brazilian productive context has gone through a series of alterations in the last decades of the 20th century. Among them there is the State reformation, which stimulated privatization programs and layoffs of state companies, with reflections to the society and the workers involved in the process. A comparative study of cases about the psychosocial implications of restructuring and privatization programs for ex-workers of two companies (electrical energy and telecommunications) was done to describe this phenomenon. It's a qualitative, exploratory-descriptive research. Information was collected through semi-structured interviews with retired or fired workers. The content of the interviews' had been analyzed. The subjects, even showing comprehension about the conjectural aspects of the privatization process, suffered the consequences of the formal and psychological contract's break established before with the companies. The changes and the detachment implied in intense psychological suffering and changes in personal and professional life of the professionals interviewed.
Restructuring; privatization; ex-workers; state companies