This study intends to examine to what extent the outsourcing process in an industry of primary aluminum, in the city of Barcarena, Pará, results in differentiation in the social identities of direct and outsourced workers. Outsourced workers have a different status in the workplace, which excludes them from the benefits offered by the companies. As a result, society has to deal not only with the fragility of the wage relationship, but also with the collapse of the principles that regulate sociability among workers. The hypothesis is that the precarious statutes responsible for the conditions of outsourced workers are extended throughout their social lives, which gives them a distinct social identity. Fifteen interviews were conducted with each group of workers; two union leaders were also interviewed. Furthermore, the article examines the collective agreement between the direct workers and the company, and that company's yearly reports, since 2003.
Flexible production; Outsourcing; Precariousness; Social identity; Albras (Alumínio Brasileiro S.A.)
