The Companies have taken advantage of the environment of insecurity and instability that the logic of relaxation-which they follow-introduces the world of work, to present them as "reference point" in which individuals who "engage" can count on. This situation tends to create some alignment between the ideals of the company and the worker's perception. The main objective of this paper is to clarify how this situation has been produced. The research that gave rise to it was held between the months of February 2007 and June 2009. The obtaining of data came through semi-structured interviews with 30 employees connected the operational areas and two leaders of the Metallurgical Trade Union of Barcarena. Other sources used were the reports of the directors and the company's internal communications from 2003 to 2008. The organizational changes triggered by the Total Quality Control System in the early 1990 introduced a set of management practices which have exerted a strong influence on the worker's subjectivity due to implementation of an organizational ideology that extends itself beyond the working environment. This framework has served to promote worker's 'subjective engagement' to flexible working
work and subjectivity; flexible production; organizational changes; primary aluminum industry
