Social Service and Policy and Rights Councils: contradiction between the Ethical-Political Project and the salaried status.
Name: KÉTTINI UPP CALVI
Publication date: 31/05/2007
Summary: The 80s have been a mark for the Brazilian democracy. Social movements and other organizations from the subordinate classes are engaged into the fight for the society and the Brazilian Sate re-democratization. Although the democracy transition in Brazil had been such a weak and dealt one, the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988 was promulgated with guarantees in matters of social policies. Thus social policies become acknowledged as a State duty and citizens rights. This Letter is followed by the guidelines of popular participation and political-administrative decentralization making it possible the opening of places for the civil society participation in the achievement of democratic social control of social policies. This decade also highlights an important moment for the Social Work. After a long period of professional renewing, social workers are released from the historical base which provided them with legitimacy and promote the ethical-political inversion of their professional project. They have started a wide debate of interests which results in the construction of the Ethical-Political Project aimed at the defense of subordinate classes interests. Therefore, social workers have introduced themselves as the protagonists related to social movements in the fight for the re-democratization of society and State, the construction of the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988, in the guarantee of popular participation in the decisive instants related to these social policies and in the social democratic control. The Policy and Right Councils appear to be as one of the achievement spaces of this social control. Social workers who have actively taken part in the creation and implementation process of these courses of participation and social democratic control are currently called to join these spaces as counselors, assessors and researchers. Thus, the councils are constituted by rich spaces of social workers performance. The majority of social workers counselors in Espírito Santo are presented with objectives of performing the social democratic control and the agenda of commitments placed in the Ethical Political Project. However, the social workers performance is permeated with contradictions and tensions. These contradictions and tensions whenever added to the advance of the project of capital and its social control constitute serious obstacles to the achievement of social democratic control and to the fulfillment of the agenda of commitment assumed in the Ethical Political Project. The main contradiction noticed in social workers performance is the condition of being salaried workers. However even in the face of the reality of Councils and the obstacles placed to the social workers performance, it is possible to see that these professional contribute even with a small amount for the Councils functioning and dynamism as well as strengthening the Ethical-Political Project.
