This article deals with the rol of managerial policies on training and skills in contexts of instable institutional conditions (like market overture, new state regulations related to privatization processes, and changing patterns in industrial relations). I argue that, under these conditions, consent negotiation relies upon manipulation of institutional resources for negotiating qualification policies toward the core labor force. Empiral analysis takes into account the experience of market deregulation, privatization and restructuring of industrial relations in Brazilian petrochemical industry.