Confederação Nacional dos Trabalhadores na Agricultura (National Confederation of Agricultural Workers, CONTAG) is the largest federation of agricultural workers' labor unions in Brazil. It represents 20 million rural workers in 27 associations and around 4 thousand unions.
The CONTAG was founded on December 22, 1963 in Rio de Janeiro. At the time there were 14 associations and 475 rural workers' unions. With the 1964 military coup, the federation and its unions were taken over by the government. Many union leaders were imprisoned or forced into exile. However, by 1968 the organization began to act independently and encouraged the formation of rural unions and federations in Brazil. The number of rural unions grew from 625 in 1968 to 2144 in 1980.
Presidents
President Term start Term end References Notes Lyndolpho Silva(SP) 1963 1964 José Rotta(SP) 1965 1968 President appointed after 1964 José Francisco da Silva(PE) 1968 1989 Aloísio Carneiro(BA) 1989 1992 Francisco Urbano de Araújo Filho(RN) 1992 1997 Manoel José dos Santos(PE) 1998 2009 Alberto Ercilio Broch(RS) 2010 2017 Aristides Veras dos Santos(PE) 2017 2021 Vânia Marques Pinto(BA) 2025 present First woman elected to lead the union
References
External links