Abstract
Introduction:
Rio de Janeiro Petrochemical Complex (Comperj) is one of the largest heavy construction in Brazil. It has constituted a scenario of workers’ struggles that express conflicts of labor relations with implications on workers’ health.
Objective:
to analyze the work and health of Comperj’s construction workers from their perspective, adopting as reference their struggles and strikes.
Methods:
qualitative social research with participant observation, documentary survey and workers and union leaders’ interviews.
Results:
the exploration practices observed in the workplaces were analyzed in three categories: outsourcing and workers’ health, extension of working time and management by stress.
Conclusion:
taken together, the results represent a continuous imposition of damages on the construction workers’ health. In this context, the workers’ collective struggle constitutes a basic condition for the protection of workers’ health.
Keywords:
civil construction; work intensification; extension of working hours; occupational health; outsourcing