In the Planalto Palace, union leaders are threatening a strike.
Labor unions are invited to the Presidential Palace to submit questions for the plebiscite on political reform; however, the consultation, scheduled for August, will not necessarily involve labor issues; CUT and Força Sindical, for different reasons, are expected to participate in the day of action on July 11th; the labor movement believes that destabilizing the government and the economy is harmful to workers and their jobs, but cannot remain outside the wave of protests.
247 - The fear expressed by former President Lula to representatives of the labor unions in a meeting last week is materializing. On July 11th, the National Day of Struggle with Strikes and Mobilization is expected to unite the five major labor unions, led by CUT and Força Sindical. For different reasons, they cannot stay out of the wave of protests, even though the date is, given the speed of events, far away, and there is no expectation of participation in already scheduled actions. CUT, linked to the PT (Workers' Party), is participating in the movement to maintain its historical characteristic of taking to the streets in mass mobilizations. Força Sindical has been openly opposing the government and considers this a strategic opportunity to gain ground.
President Dilma Rousseff met with the heads of the labor unions on the morning of Thursday the 26th, and did not even try to dissuade them from the initiative. In a meeting considered cold by the participants, Dilma simply invited the unions to submit questions to be selected for the plebiscite that the government intends to promote, according to the Minister of Education, Aloizio Mercadante, as early as August.
It is still unknown whether there will be real space in the plebiscite for the union agenda, considered distinct from political reform, but the unions are already ready to present their demands. Reducing the work week to 40 hours is a consensus among the leaders of the different groups. The end of the social security factor and the imposition of measures restricting the outsourcing of labor are also on the agenda. Improvements in public transportation are also expected to be included.
"By opening up this space for the labor unions, the president is making it clear that she will accept including our demands in the consultation on political reform," the general secretary of Força Sindical, João Carlos Gonçalves, known as Juruna, told 247. There will be a meeting between the union leaders in an attempt to unify the proposals on three issues.
There are no specific union demonstrations planned outside of the 11th. Union leaders are observing the situation with extreme caution, considering that workers are the sector of society that has the most to lose from any potential political instability or worsening economic situation. After all, employment rates have shown an upward trend over the last eight months, with the exception of May. Despite this, data on industrial production and loan uptake for machinery and equipment financing at BNDES, which are on the rise, indicate that the current unemployment levels of 5,5% reported by BNDES will continue to fluctuate within this range.