Contradictions for the representation and performance of Workers’ Health in Health Councils

Abstract

Health Councils are valuable instruments for the democratization of health policies, but their institutionalization tends to transform them into structures of the State itself. This essay combines an integrative review of national literature with a systematic analysis of public videos and minutes of meetings of the State Health Council of Rio de Janeiro. It aims to discuss strategies for social participation and democratization of public health policies in Health Councils based on the principles of Workers’ Health. Like all spaces of power, the Council is configured as an arena for disputes over the model and management of health policy. Its lack of financial and administrative autonomy, combined with the bureaucratization of decision-making bodies, compromises the democracy of political arenas. The participation of organized social movements without the dimension of the struggles between capital and labor conflicts with the perspectives of actions in the area of Workers’ Health. The need to improve practices of social control and the political autonomy of actors is essential for the choices and demands of society to be properly represented.