Manifestações da precarização do trabalho de assistentes sociais na Universidade Federal da Bahia

Abstract

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.