Conclusion
The physical understanding of work is a key element in the construction process of workers’ bodies and subjectivity. The material conditions of the productive process induce the worker’s body to become a cultural sign. In the Santa Rosa steelworks, the heat was the element around which the relations of production were arranged. The production sections with furnaces were strategic. Bodies that could best tolerate heat were especially important to the employer. Meanwhile, the danger of heat was interpreted as a positive element, giving value to those bodies. The heat became the element that established a hierarchical order among workers, conferring special respect to those who had to deal with it.
However, the intensification of the working conditions in the last 1960s led workers to understand that the effort they were making was not properly paid. In this context, the heat was transformed into a political tool and used to battle for the union leadership.
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