Auditor predicts atomic bomb for the Northeast.

247 - Labor inspector Ingrid Berger suggested, last Sunday (7), during the announcement of the election results, that an atomic bomb be dropped on the Northeast "like Nagasaki, so that no flower will ever grow again in the next 70 years". The bizarre statement was reported to the Labor Ministry's Ombudsman (MTE).

The complaint was filed in the administrative sphere because the accused is a labor inspector, approved in a 2013 competitive examination, is in her probationary period, and therefore does not yet have the right to job security granted to public servants.

Currently, the employee, who has a law degree, is stationed at the Regional Superintendence of Labor and Employment in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso.

The complaint was filed by the Bahian lawyer Durval Saback. Speaking to the Bahia Notícias website, he stated that he received the message through a colleague via WhatsApp and checked the veracity of the information, and, through another colleague who is also a tax auditor, confirmed that she had passed the public service exam.

“The complaint was filed with the Ministry of Labor's ombudsman to investigate whether she committed an infraction that could violate the Civil Servant Code of Ethics, in order to initiate a disciplinary administrative process. Only then will it be known whether she committed the infraction, and whether she should be dismissed from public service or not,” he explains. Some time later, according to the lawyer, Ingrid Berger's account was deleted, as was the post. But the screenshot was saved.

Messages inciting hatred, discrimination, and racism posted on social media can still be investigated by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office. The accused may also be investigated in civil and criminal courts. Similar complaints can be filed on the Federal Police website and the Safernet NGO website.

In response to the situation, internet user Tarciano Tarto published a letter to the auditor:

Open letter to labor inspector Ingrid Berger

Dear auditor,

First of all, I must confess to you that, despite being from the Northeast of Brazil, it wasn't the offense against my people and the woman's bloodthirsty vigor that caused me the most outrage.

Right away, I thought it was just another case among many where it would be pointless to "waste" time.

But when I saw that she was a career civil servant, I had no doubt about the need to address her, with the aim of trying to dissuade her from certain ideas based on very objective facts.

Please, I only ask that you continue reading until the end.

In fact, what outraged me most in the comment posted on social media was learning that the lady, despite being a labor inspector, endorsed those who believe, and make others believe, that the government that has been in power for 12 years has only benefited "unqualified" and "poorly educated" people, such as those from the Northeast of Brazil, who receive Bolsa Família (a government welfare program), whose children are in school, who are now attending university, who have electricity at home, who are free from the scourge of hunger, who can (believe it or not!) travel by plane for the first time, etc.

I imagine you are unaware that, in addition to governing for all those people from the Northeast, Lula and Dilma governed for you. And not indirectly.

Let's see: when FHC, from the PSDB (the same party as Aécio), handed over the government to Lula (the one from the PT so hated by Dilma), a newly appointed labor inspector, as you were recently, earned, in January 2003, R$ 4.544,53 (class A, standard I of the career).

On January 1, 2015, when President Dilma Rousseff is expected to assume her second term by popular vote, this amount will be no less than R$ 15.743,64 (class A, standard I), according to Law 12.808, sanctioned by the same president on May 8, 2013.

It is quite likely that another fact is unknown: if today you are part of a typical civil servant and earn that monthly amount for your work as a public employee, it was not simply due to your great personal effort in studying and passing one of the most competitive public service exams in the country.

During the FHC administration, whose playbook Aécio will follow, the idea was that of a minimal state, with crumbling public institutions and undervalued civil servants.

Therefore, voting for Aécio means going back to a state model with almost no public hiring processes and very little salary negotiation with its employees.

To be very frank with you, if that model were still in place today, even with all your personal effort, you probably wouldn't be where you are and wouldn't earn what you earn, simply because the opportunity you were given (the public service exam and the salary commensurate with your position) would most certainly not exist.

In this context, it is also worth highlighting the great leap forward that President Lula promoted for the career of labor inspectors when he sanctioned Law 11.890 on December 24, 2008, granting, in addition to a phased increase retroactive to July of that same year, the transformation of the inspectors' remuneration into subsidies – a modality previously applicable only to certain positions and careers within the Brazilian State, such as the President of the Republic, Ministers of State, members of the judiciary, members of the Public Prosecutor's Office, etc.

This was a clear signal from the president to value the career of labor auditors, eliminating all the remunerative "perks," such as bonuses, allowances, and additional payments, that created differentiations within the career, established instability among auditors, and subjected the amount received monthly to individual and institutional evaluations.

Finally, just to make one more comparison, I ask that you check the value at the top of the pay scale in December 2002.

When FHC left the government, a civil servant who had already progressed through all the classes and levels of their career earned R$ 7.376,91 (special class, level IV), with R$ 4.885,37 as basic salary and the remainder as a bonus, which depended on personal and institutional evaluation.

On January 1, 2015, a labor auditor at the top of the pay scale will receive a monthly salary of R$ 22.516,88 (special class, level IV), in a single payment via subsidy. A considerable gain, even if you discount inflation for the period!

Therefore, Ms. Ingrid Berger, I ask that you reconsider some concepts and realize, based on these clarifications, that, like the people of the Northeast, you too are a beneficiary of the policies implemented by President Dilma's government.

My hope is that, with Dilma remaining as President of the Republic, people from the Northeast will continue to benefit, but also that labor inspectors will continue to be valued with salaries that are increasingly commensurate with the responsibility, expertise, and competence required of someone who holds such an important position for the State, as is the case with you.

Respectfully,

Tarciano Ricarto