ADunicamp, 45 years of history
Created in 1977, in the midst of a military dictatorship that completed 13 years of installation and strong repression against everything and everyone who opposed it (including the press in general, unions, parties), ADunicamp brought with it tasks that seemed almost impossible to fulfill: “act as a union, fighting for teachers' labor rights, and also as an association of workers concerned with democracy, committed to joining other similar entities, supporting them. At the same time, it should make its contribution to the Brazilian public University – with the purpose of identifying the place of this institution in a country with the particularities of Brazil – and to Unicamp itself, which lacked transparent and open decision-making mechanisms”.
The young State University of Campinas (Unicamp) had been created just 10 years ago and was facing problems with the administration of its founder who, on the one hand, had shaped it with his vision of a university and its prestige with the public and political power of the time, on the other hand, it acted in an authoritarian and paternalistic manner, leaving aside an institutionalization that transferred decision-making power to the majority of professors who made up the university.
The lack of a career path and a clearly defined policy for internal issues made clear the need to organize teachers into an association that could influence the destiny of the university.
The Ciclo Básico building was the stage for the first moment, but also for many later ones, of ADunicamp. An assembly was held there, which had 370 participants (40% of the total number of teachers at the time) and which created the Unicamp Teachers' Association, ADunicamp. Its first president, José Vitório Zago, was responsible for creating the necessary infrastructure so that the association could function.
Since its inception, ADunicamp has faced difficulties and the restriction of universities was one of the most emblematic. Support for the SBPC meeting and the 3rd National Student Meeting, which suffered strong repression from the military government, took place months after their creation.
“… in 1979, during the term of its first elected board, ADunicamp was already participating in the broad civil service movement in São Paulo. The previous year, Unicamp teachers had gone on their first strike, following which their first elected president, Rubem Alves, resigned. He, claiming that he did not agree with the participation of university professors, whom he considered privileged, in a strike movement, resigned by letter. A year later, and led by vice-president José Vitório Zago, who took over from Rubem Alves, ADunicamp was preparing to participate in the biggest confrontation between civil servants and government since the 1964 coup”.
Telling the story of this institution is not and has never been an easy task. There were many important moments, as well as many questions that he had to face, intervene in and respond to, not only to his associates, but to the academic community and society as a whole. Its union with “sister entities” such as ADUSP and Adunesp and its participation in the national teaching movement became important markers of its performance.
With a university concept focused on major national issues, as a meeting point for thinkers and those responsible for developing technologies, but, mainly, public policies aimed at meeting the basic needs of society and not just economic groups, its performance does not could be different.
Since its creation, ADunicamp has grown a lot. From the Ciclo Básico building, its first address, to its own headquarters in 1996, it was not just the infrastructure that increased. The creation of the Fórum das Seis (entity that initially brought together the associations of teachers and administrative technicians from the three public universities in São Paulo and which today also brings together the DCEs of Unicamp and Usp and the workers' union at Centro Paula Souza) as a unit of Claim with the Council of Rectors (Cruesp) after the granting of University Autonomy in 1989 made the association gain ever greater importance.
The transition from association to union section of the National Union of Teachers of Higher Education Institutions, ANDES-SN, was a long process of enlightening the community. Changes to the Civil Code in 2002 meant that companies, companies, associations and entities in general had to adapt to the new legislation. In 2005, the approval of law nº11.127/05, through article 2031 of the Civil Code, established January 11, 2007 as the deadline for statutory adaptation. In a campaign that lasted 4 months (from August to December 2006), ADunicamp tried to discuss and clarify its members about the importance of transforming the association into a union section and presented a proposal to change the statute based on documents from similar entities. At this point Adusp and Adunesp had already made the change and ADunicamp was the only entity in the Forum of Six that was not a union, which led to difficulties in gaining rights for the entire teaching community at the university and not just its associates. On December 15, 2006, the result of the consultation was favorable to unionization. Of the 2060 members at the time, 1111 voted. 73 were against, 23 voted blank and 7 annulled their votes. The majority, 1008, approved the change.
Currently, of the 2,692 teachers at Unicamp, 2,092 are affiliated with ADunicamp (including retirees in both cases).
The teachers' house
ADunicamp began its activities in a historic assembly in 1977, but soon after faced the need for its own physical space. The provisional solution came with the transfer, by IMECC, of a small room in its annex, behind the IFCH. In the mid-1980s, the headquarters began operating in the basement of the Ciclo Básico building. Some school desks, a desk, a typewriter and the Association had the minimum to function, but the room still lacked infrastructure for meetings. In a used furniture store, near Unicamp, in the Barão Geraldo neighborhood, a dining room set with upholstered chairs was purchased. It wasn't exactly what you expected from a meeting room, but it was what the money could buy.
From then on, ADunicamp would change its address once more, but would remain occupying a small space, in the basement of the Basic Cycle. In 1990, an agreement was reached by which Unicamp would lend land on the campus, on which ADunicamp could build its headquarters. Six years later, the new headquarters was inaugurated: no longer a cramped office, but a group of small buildings that house administration, auditorium, multipurpose room, canteen [which was later renovated to make way for a restaurant] and library. To make this possible, the monthly fee charged to associates was temporarily increased from 0.3% to 1% of the teacher's salary. After construction, it was reduced to 0.7%, a level maintained to this day.
For those who want to learn more about the history of this institution that is not only part of the history of Unicamp, but also of Brazil, the entire collection of books and other publications from ADunicamp is being made available on this portal. The database, still in development, initially only includes the years 2008 and 2009, but should contain all the issues of newspapers, magazines, notebooks and photos.