Dismantling of Social Security and unemployment: the dregs of the orange

Jair Bolsonaro's orange government has made pension reform the main objective of its administration. Paulo Guedes, the minister of financial speculation, repeats the speeches of Henrique Meireles, that candidate who spent almost R$ 40 million to get fewer votes than Cabo Daciolo, who spent almost nothing and had much less television time.

Paulo Guedes appointed Rogério Marinho, a former congressman and rapporteur for the labor reform—the reform that was approved with the promise of generating millions of jobs but only resulted in austerity, layoffs, and the joy of employers—to lead the dismantling of the pension system.

Rogério Marinho was not re-elected. In his state, Rio Grande do Norte, the people elected Fátima Bezerra of the PT (Workers' Party) as governor, and he was left without a mandate. For the good services rendered to the bankers, he received this public job as a consolation prize, since he dismantled the CLT (Consolidation of Labor Laws) and now wants to do another evil to the workers. He is from the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party).

The labor reform didn't create a single job, and the pension reform will only produce misery, exclusion, and hopelessness. Look at the data from PNAD, the IBGE's monthly survey on employment and unemployment.

The unemployment rate (12,0%) in the moving quarter ending in January 2019 rose 0,3 percentage points compared to the quarter from August to October 2018 (11,7%). The unemployed population (12,7 million) grew by 2,6% (an increase of 318 people).

But the most serious issue is that the underutilized population (27,5 million) grew by 2,5% (an increase of 671 people). These people worked, almost always independently, doing small "odd jobs," informal work, etc. They almost always earn less than half the minimum wage per month.

The number of discouraged workers rose 6,7% compared to the same quarter of the previous year (4,4 million). Discouraged workers are men and women who have given up looking for work and are not even doing small odd jobs.

Adding the 12,7 million openly unemployed to the 27,5 million underemployed and the 4,4 million discouraged workers, there are 44,6 million Brazilians without jobs.

The number of employees without formal contracts rose by 2,9%, an additional 320 people, compared to the same period in 2017. All this horrifying data is not just statistics. It reflects the real lives of millions of Brazilian men and women who had jobs and hope and were as much, or even more, victims of the 2016 coup d'état as President Dilma and the democratic forces.

And the government that took office in January 2019, complicit in and continuing the coup, only thinks about approving a reform that seeks to exploit women, rural workers, teachers, security guards and other workers in hazardous positions, widows and their children, beneficiaries of social assistance programs, and workers in general. This will only generate more social inequality, misery, and violence.

Therefore, struggle is the only alternative for the working people, who cannot be divided. We defend our Social Security and Welfare programs. And we demand from the government an emergency investment plan to generate employment. It is the only way to restore the people's hope.