1.2 Adapting to Industry 4.0 A new challenge for Brazil’s autoworker unions Brazil’s history has helped its trade unions to prepare for the challenges of digitalisation and the future of work. By Mathilde Dorcadie 1 Trade unionism in Brazil shares a long, common history with the au­tomotive industry, particularly in the so-called ABC region of Greater São Paulo, named after the towns of Santo André, São Bernardo do Campo and São Caetano, which together are home to hundreds of manufacturing plants. It was here, in 1983, that the Central Única dos Trabalhadores(Unified Workers’ Central, or CUT) was born, now the country’s largest and most powerful workers organisation with near­ly eight million members and 3,960 affiliates. The ABC region is also the birthplace of the Partido dos Trabalhadores(Workers’ Party, or PT); it is home to the Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos do ABC(the ABC Metalworkers’ Union, or SMABC), one of the most important trade unions in Brazil with a history of leading some of the country’s big­gest strikes; and it was also here that the former Brazilian president Lula da Silva earned his stripes in his first role as union leader(as the president of SMABC). The ABC region remains a stronghold of Brazil­ian trade unionism, but with the global automotive manufacturing sector undergoing profound changes in recent years, it is also a re­1 Mathilde Dorcadie is editor of the French version of Equal Times. For several years she worked as a correspondent for French-language me­dia in Brazil and the Middle East. As a freelance journalist, she wor­ked for Agence France Presse as well as various television channels, magazines and newspapers. Section 1/ 1.2 17