"Unions are fundamental to defending workers and democracy": Rodrigo Maia acknowledges responsibility for the dismantling of unions.

247 - In interview with TV 247, during the program Your Excellency, The Fact (link at the end of this text for the full text), at the 30-minute mark of the video, the licensed congressman Rodrigo Maia, current Secretary of Partnerships for the state of São Paulo, says he is convinced that the left is right to insist, in Congress, on reviewing the ways in which unions are financed.

During the Labor Reform approved in 2017 during Michel Temer's presidency, which involved negotiations led by Maia and was overseen by the current Minister of Integration, Rogério Marinho, the entire structure for collecting and managing union dues was dismantled. “I am convinced they are right. Unions are a fundamental structure for defending workers and for defending Democracy,” acknowledges the former Speaker of the House. “The first thing Hitler did in Germany was to suppress German unions from political life. In fact, we went too far (in dismantling the unions).”

In the program, the congressman, currently on leave (to serve as state secretary in São Paulo) and without a party affiliation (he has not yet defined which party he will join after leaving the DEM due to disagreements with the party president, ACM Neto), states that the debate surrounding union representation and the financing of union organizations is relevant and needs to be resumed immediately in Congress. Presidential candidate Lula and his party, the PT, have placed the issue at the center of political discussions in this 2022 election year. Lula advocates for the repeal of the Labor Reform, whose approval Maia led. "I think this debate is valid," says Doria's secretary. He emphasizes that he is not referring to what he calls "infra-constitutional changes" in labor legislation, but rather to the rules governing unions.

Responding to a question from journalist Eumano Silva, one of the drivers of Your Excellency, The FactAt the 43-minute mark of the video, Rodrigo Maia says he also urgently sees significant changes needed in the Brazilian taxpayers' tax system. This is another issue that Lula and the PT are debating, insisting on a tax reform that transforms the national system into a "progressive" one, not a regressive one. That is, that taxes are proportionally higher from those with higher incomes. "Brazil has created three tax systems," he explains. "Two with brutal privileges: the Simples and the presumed profit system. And the other, the progressive tax table, with a brutal lag and brutal distortions. This punishes the poor, the salaried worker, in the tax system." The link provides the full interview with Maia. TV 247: