Flexibilização do trabalho e mobilidade geográfica nas forças armadas

Abstract

The paper presents results of a survey on the perceptions of a group of workers who are part of a peripheral segment of the Portuguese Armed Forces hired on a fixed-term basis and subjected to constant geographical mobility. It explores the impacts of such flexibility in work practices in the armed forces on their professional and personal expectations and strategies. A questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used. We observed the existence of employment and labor precariousness, which are sources of dissatisfaction; feelings of labor segmentation with respect to mainstream groups within army; difficulties in reconciliation and access to training. It was concluded that there are several challenges to the military organization, with a workforce that tends to be demoralized by insecurity, by a sense of routine, fatigue and inability to progression. For individuals, the sense of "nomadic worker" begins to weigh due to constant moving, to the approaching of contract termination and the need to prepare for reintegration into the labor market. Such precariousness is observed in a sector that until recently was seen as one of the best structured and that used to guarantee stability -the military career -and that now becomes also a place of "passage" for their "professionals".