PG 203 anos: The Journey of Sindimetal of Ponta Grossa

Sindimetal was born of the need for the metallurgical industries of Ponta Grossa to have their own voice. In the early 2000s, the local sector served as a support for the automotive industry in Curitiba, where Volvo, Bosch and New Holland were located, and decisions affecting the city's companies were taken out of it. Thus emerged the association that originated the union, sheltered in the Commercial, Industrial and Business Association of Ponta Grossa (ACIPG).

In the founding period, the scarcity of steel and the difficulty of accessing inputs such as paints brought the entrepreneurs closer together, who began to exchange information and seek technology together, including on trips to the Hanover Fair. It was also the phase of a great state strike, marked by political polarization and strength of the workers’ trade union movement. Even so, Ponta Grossa was able to end the shutdown before other cities thanks to the articulation between industries. This moment consolidated the union, with the conquest of the union charter.

Between 2013 and 2017, under Luiz Paulo Rover, the union faced strike threats and financial difficulties, but managed to structure itself, create its own legal body and improve its relationship with the labor union, making collective bargaining more balanced.

From 2017 to 2022, Álvaro Scheffer, in three terms, modernized the collective agreement, eliminating clauses of difficult compliance and building a solid partnership with the workers’ union. This relationship was essential during the pandemic, when both entities acted together to reduce contaminations in industries, being this one of the greatest successes of inter-union collaboration.

Between 2022 and 2026, in the management of Orceli Martins, the sector lived a mixed scenario: small companies of funneling and metal structures remained stable, while companies focused on exports and the national market suffered from high interest rates, mainly in the truck segment.

The raw material remained stable, but the lack of skilled manpower for functions such as milling, lathe and laser cutting operators, became the biggest challenge. With the union agenda pacified, Sindimetal began to act in structural bottlenecks of the city, such as saturated highways, insufficient public transport and lack of sewage network in the Industrial District, pleading with the public power road contour, more bus lines and adjustments in the Plano Diretor.

Now, in the management of Adir Ferreira de Jesuz (2026-2028), the scenario is of high industrial costs and strong political polarization, highlighting the debate on the 5x2 scale. Sindimetal continues to prioritize good relations with the labor union, the protection of members and the expansion of the union framework, as well as investing in partnership with educational institutions to train more qualified professionals and reduce the blackout of specialized labor in the local metallurgical industry.

Industry House, where the industry sectors meet in Paraná

The Industry House in Ponta Grossa has become a convergence point of various industrial sectors of the city and of Campos Gerais. The proposal brings together several industrial unions under the same structure, strengthening associativism, giving more weight to business representation and stimulating cooperation between entities of strategic segments of the regional economy.

Part of the space are entities related to mining, baking, metal-mechanics, wood, red ceramics and automotive repair and civil construction. This integration allows the demands of the sector to be carried out collectively, strengthening the dialogue with the public power and with society.

The idea was born within the Federation of State Industries of Paraná (FIEP), and Ponta Grossa was the first such experiment in the state. The project began to take shape in 2010 and was officially put into practice in 2011, with three founding unions: Sindimadeira, Sindimetal and Sindiminerais. Over the years, other segments were added, further expanding the industrial representativeness of the region.

From the beginning, the objective was to strengthen associativeism, reduce operational costs of entities and increase the strength of institutional articulation of the sector.

 

Article by Sindimetal-PG for the book: "PONTA GROSSA: From the Route of the Tropeiros to the Trails of Innovation"

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