The current strategy for Brazil's development does not focus on traditional advantages such as cheap and unskilled labor and inexpensive raw materials. The Brazilian government proposes an emphasis on vocational training and rehabilitation of human resources and on research and development. Vocational training has traditionally been offered by SENAI (National Service of Industrial Apprenticeship) and SENAC (National Service of Commercial Apprenticeship). The union movement sees vocational training as being fundamentally a state obligation. Trade unions are linked to different political and ideological lines, and union centers offer political education. The two oldest centers, CUT (Confederation of Workers) and CGT (Workers' Unique Center), have specific projects that train union leaders and strengthen democratic, class conscience, and independent unionism. Three unions--CUT, CGT, and the Union Force--would be willing to invest in vocational training on two conditions: that they could obtain resources for their objectives and that the political dimension would be linked to the technical dimension. In the last 20 years, some vocational training initiatives developed by segments of the working classes have been shown to be more significant than those of workers' organizations. They seem more important than union initiatives primarily because they introduce more advanced activities and train the worker as a whole. (10 references) (YLB)